Norman Russel William: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Norman Russel William: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:658;Page:6964] 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I stand to speak on the second reading of the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill. The Green Party will be supporting this bill and I have a few short comments to make on it. We in the Green Party support the right of local councils to set by-laws to clamp down on illegal street racing. We think it is essential that councils have those powers and we support them in doing that. 
However we think that the term “cruising” requires rather more work as it is a rather loose term and the definition is pretty loose. The current definition is quite broad and could encompass for example the activities of political parties such as the convoy of ACT Party sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that were cruising in Mount Albert earlier this year. They were cruising up and down chewing through gas. We think that the ACT Party’s SUVs could have been caught within the “cruising” term because that term is a bit loose. 
We also think that making vehicle impoundment mandatory may not be the best course of action in all situations and that it is essential to retain flexibility and discretion for the authorities. Impoundment may have its place but we think that without some flexibility in the use of impoundment people will just feel alienated. Heavy-handed enforcement is not always the best strategy. Sometimes it is the only option but it is not always the best strategy. Boy racers and girl racers are in fact examples of young people who are creating their own communities of interest. We should be trying to direct them in constructive directions rather than simply coming down on them like a tonne of bricks in every situation or occurrence. Obviously there is the need to have these powers but we have to ask ourselves this: if we clamp down on young people’s civil liberties and further alienate them how will that help us? Motor racing is a big business and a legitimate sport and it would be good to steer young drivers into a more structured and safer environment where they could race or even just parade their vehicles. We should not forget to find them opportunities to do that because if we simply go in there and use impoundment and heavy-handed enforcement we may find that we make the problem worse. It is a matter of using discretion and using our brains to deal with the issue. 
The Green Party particularly supports the provisions of new section 121A inserted by clause 26 where enforcement officers may give directions or immobilise vehicles if drivers such as those on learner or restricted licences breach their licence conditions and of new section 128C inserted by clause 27 about vehicle inspections. These are both good safety measures and I welcome the comments from the Minister about road safety. I will have a few things to say about that myself. 
The police already have the powers to deal with people who drink alcohol in cars. That drinking leads to many of the problems associated with illegal street racing. We would prefer the police to have the resources they need in order to enforce the current law around driving and drinking and we think that that needs to be the first priority. We also welcome the work of the Law Commission on the control of the sale of alcohol which is also an issue of safety. Of course the Greens have been advocating for quite some time with the previous Government and the current one for there to be restrictions on the advertising of alcohol on television but so far our efforts have been without any success. 
In terms of road safety which the Minister alluded to certain things are absent from this bill. For example we know that it has been very difficult for some communities to impose lower speed limits. The roading authorities have been extremely resistant to communities lowering speed limits yet we know that doing so would make a significant contribution to safety and may even help with the issues that this bill tries to deal with. There is also the issue of safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Our roads are designed so that they are extremely unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians and it would be great to see central government agencies become interested in making our roads safe for cyclists and pedestrians. If we want to improve safety on our roads of course it would also be great to move freight off the roads. Instead this Government’s priority is to move freight on to the roads. So if road safety really were a central concern of the Government it would address those issues not to mention that it would invest heavily in public transport so that we can reduce the number of cars on our roads in the first place. 
None the less in spite of the weaknesses in and absences from this bill the Green Party will be supporting it and we commend it to the House.