Nash Stuart: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — In Committee 
Nash Stuart: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19782] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 My colleague Rick Barker has outlined a lot of the rationale behind the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill. We live in a society that is based on fairness. If there is one thing I have learnt about New Zealanders it is that we do not ask for much at all but it really annoys us if we think we are being treated unfairly or if people are getting away with stuff that they should not get away with. This is why I really back this measure and I back my colleague Rick Barker and the words that he has said. Traffic fines are imposed for a reason which is that the driver has broken the law. As Rick Barker said and as many of us know we can read in the paper about characters who get arrested for something and they have as Rick said $40000 worth of fines—or it might even be $400 worth of fines. But they act as if they are immune from the law. It is simply not good enough in this day and age to run roughshod over the law to have no accountability and no responsibility and actually to treat the law with contempt. I think the bill deals with that pretty well actually. 
The process under which a driver licence stop order must be served is actually quite robust. There is no excuse—there is no excuse whatsoever—for people to say no one had told them about it so they did not know because what happens first of all is that a warning is served. I will let people know where we are at. I am talking about new section 91AB to be inserted by clause 43 “Ways in which warning notice or driver licence stop order must be served”. This is a legislative requirement. What must happen is that an employee or an agent of the Ministry of Justice—so we are talking about a policeman or a bailiff I assume—must deliver the notice personally to the defendant or if the defendant refuses to accept it and all reasonable care has been taken they may deliver it to the defendant’s place of residence and give it to another person who appears to be over the age of 14. This is a warning—this is a warning. That is what can be done; it can be left at the place of residence. 
These people are under no illusion that they have been given a warning. But then they have the ability to pay. They have a warning and there is a decision to pay up when they realise they need their licence perhaps for work. The person has done wrong and must pay up because that is the person’s contribution to society and it is about taking responsibility. It is about time that some of these people took responsibility for their actions. They have 14 days. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: This is a National Party line Mr Nash. Come on over. 
STUART NASH 
: Believe me I say to Mr Calder the Labour Party believes in individual responsibility more than the National Party. We believe it is about time that people from the very top whether they are dairy farmers paying tax or whether they are people who have broken the law on a motorbike took responsibility for their actions and paid up. People have 14 days. Someone who has received a warning has 14 days to write a cheque—let us hope it does not bounce—pay the fine and there it goes. The stop order will not take place if the fine is paid. There will be no problems whatsoever which is only fair. 
But after 14 days if people have not paid up if they have not accepted responsibility for their actions then the imposition of a driver licence stop order can be made. It actually says in new section 91D(1): “… the chief executive of the Ministry of Justice may impose a driver licence stop order”. To tell the truth I would have liked to see the “may” be changed to “must” because “may” implies there is no legislative requirement there for the Ministry of Justice to impose a stop order; it just says it is within the ministry’s discretion. “Must” means that there is a legislative requirement and I think that would have sent a very strong message. There would be no excuse then. There may be a little wriggle room in new section 91D because when the 14 days is up there will be the question of whether the period should be taken out to 15 days—maybe that is the reason for “may”. But I think it is really about time that people started to take responsibility. I do not know how much money is outstanding. Perhaps the Minister in the chair the Hon Jonathan Coleman one of the other National MPs or even one of my colleagues will be able to tell me how much money is actually outstanding in motor vehicle fines. 
Jacqui Dean 
: $672 million. 
STUART NASH 
: That is outstanding? What is that for? 
Hon Member 
: Yes it is outstanding. 
STUART NASH 
: That is unbelievable—$672 million. That is why I would have liked to see a “must” here because there should be a legislative requirement. Thank you.