Turei Metiria: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
Turei Metiria: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1650] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party will oppose the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. We opposed it at the first reading and we will continue to do so. During the first reading debate a number of comments were made by those who support the bill. Members said they would continue to support it even though they admitted that it would do nothing to deal with gang violence—particularly in Wanganui but anywhere else—that it would not address the real concerns around the behaviour of gang members in public areas and that it would not constrain gangs in any of their activities. None the less they wanted to find a cosmetic way—as it has been described—of making some show to the public that they were taking the gang issue seriously. That raises the very real question of the waste of taxpayers’ resources on dealing with legislation—at the select committee as we debate it now and then with its implementation—when those who support this legislation know that it will not work. 
Chester Borrows raised the case of the child who was killed in Wanganui. He knows that this bill would not have saved that child. It would not have saved that child nor will it save any child or person who is the subject of violence or gang violence. This bill will not protect a single member of any of our communities let alone those communities in Wanganui that are suffering and are the subject of this overblown approach to the real issues of gang violence in those areas. This bill is not just ineffective and a waste of taxpayers’ money; it also provides for a significant breach of the rights of citizens. We are not necessarily talking here about the rights of gang members which is always what the proponents of this bill are talking about but about the fact that under this bill ordinary citizens will suffer a serious breach of their rights as citizens of this country. 
The bill has failed a human rights vetting for a range of reasons. The human rights vetting talked about the bill having a tenuous connection to the goal of reducing the intimidation of members of the public by gangs—a tenuous connection to the goal—but despite the Law and Order Committee having tried to find ways to soften that breach the bill none the less continues to breach the human rights of citizens of this country. There are serious issues just with the definition of “gang”. The bill does not necessarily define gangs although it provides a list of gangs. One of the issues in the public mind is that gangs are traditionally characterised as Maori gangs. Much of the public discourse about gangs and gang violence is not related to the motorcycle gangs the punk gangs— 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: Or the KKK. 
METIRIA TUREI 
: —or the National Front gangs. Those are not how gangs are characterised in this country. Gangs are characterised as Maori gangs and for as long as there is a definition or an ability for councils in particular to make the decision about what is and what is not a gang they will be influenced by the public characterisation of gangs as Maori gangs. 
As we go through the bill we can see even more clearly how this legislation will have a massively discriminatory effect on Maori—and I will describe that in just a moment. An issue was raised by Chester Borrows around gang colours and the violence connected with them. There are schools in the communities where wearing certain kinds of colours has now been banned in order to try to disassociate those colours from gangs. We know that people in those communities suffer violence as a result of simply wearing certain kinds of colours. We have the case of the terrible death of Jordan Herewini who was killed for wearing his yellow kura shirt because he was considered to be associated with one particular gang. 
This bill will make that kind of violence more likely. It is already the case that certain colours are associated with certain gangs so surely the response from a gang might be that the display of those colours will become more likely as opposed to the display of insignia so the concept in the public mind in particular and in the community mind in general is that certain colours will be associated with gang activity. 
This bill will not be able to stop the wearing of colours by any people. That would be ridiculous. We have members in this House who are wearing the colours traditionally associated with gangs. We have the Killer Bees the Mongrel Mob and Black Power all represented here in this Parliament by colours alone. If in the public mind the concept of gangs and colours is further associated through Draconian legislation like this then the chances of violence occurring against those people who display those colours is increased not decreased. This bill will decrease the safety of those communities and it will increase violence on the basis of colours alone because of the way it is constructed. 
What is of the most serious concern to me—and it will be to all Maori in particular in this country—is the inclusion of the wearing of tattoos in the definition of “gang insignia”. The description in the bill talks about a tattoo that denotes “membership of an affiliation with or support for a gang;”. If we accept—and we must do; it is a fact—that the public characterisation of gangs is as Maori gangs then the display of ta moko for example could easily be associated in the minds of the public and the minds of the council members who are so subject to the public’s views about these things as being related to a gang of some kind. 
Will the wearing of a ta moko become associated with gang affiliation? It is certainly true that we have had many examples of discrimination against Maori for wearing ta moko. We had a case just recently where a woman was refused entry into a bar because she had a moko on her face. The bar had a rule about facial tattoos and refused to let her in. That was considered to be a breach of her human rights. 
At the same time we have an international display of Maori cultural forms—of tattoos for example. Famous people such as famous American pop stars wear Maori tattoos as a symbol of their recognition of the importance of ta moko as a sacred art form. Air New Zealand uses those kinds of cultural art forms as its insignia. It is its way of identifying itself as being uniquely New Zealand. Those art forms are in some respects treated by this Parliament and the community as a display of our uniqueness as Aotearoa New Zealand. They have a significant cultural impact on us all. Yet we—well “you” I should say because the Green Party certainly does not—as members of this House want to support legislation that will mean the police and the council in that one town will be able to discriminate against Maori simply because they are wearing a tattoo that the police or the council has decided potentially supports a gang whether or not that ta moko or tattoo has anything to do with gang issues or support for a gang. 
Let us be clear. There is absolutely firm evidence that the police take a discriminatory attitude towards Maori. We have evidence from a report that talks about the overrepresentation of Maori in the criminal justice system for example. It states that Maori are more likely to be apprehended—which is what this bill will ask for; it allows for a search without a warrant—and more severely punished than other people and that key issues around ethnicity cause that to happen. Maori will be the ones who suffer from this legislation more than anyone else as 47 percent of Maori have tattoos. They will be the ones who suffer and who are discriminated against by the police and by council members who are subject to the whims of public misunderstanding about issues like colours and ta moko. 
The Green Party has other major serious concerns about the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. At heart we simply cannot support legislation that will fail to keep our people safe. We cannot support legislation that will make our communities less safe than they already are and we know that many communities already suffer from such concerns. This bill will not address their concerns. It will not make them safer. It will increase levels of violence particularly around gang colours as gangs respond to these processes. The Green Party will not support this bill and urges the rest of the House not to.