Ryall Tony: Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Ryall Tony: Land Transport (Street and Illegal Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4549] 
Hon TONY RYALL (NZ National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 It is with some irony that—I think it was the Acting Minister of Transport—rushed through his pre-prepared speech at some knots. He then sought to make some politics at the end of it. I remind the House that the only reason that this bill is in the name of the Acting Minister of Transport Mr Paul Swain is because it was the shadow Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee who sought the leave of the House to transform the bill produced by a private member into a Government bill. While Government members—including the Minister of Police and the Minister of Justice—were beating their brows about what they were and were not going to do about boy-racer bills they took absolutely no action on progressing the agenda on to the legislative timetable. That did not happen until the National Party joined with New Zealand First and ACT to get leave to transfer the bill into being on the Order Paper and off to a select committee for consideration. That would probably explain the reason that the Acting Minister of Transport sped so quickly through his pre-written speech. 
I would like to bring the House back to another point that Mr Swain made—that is his comment that this bill has been substantially rewritten. It has indeed been substantially rewritten. My colleague Mr Connell and I were just talking while the Minister was speaking and we cannot recall a clause of this bill that was not unchanged as a result of the select committee hearing. In the Minister’s own words the substantial rewrite of Mr Cosgrove’s bill is for the better and we certainly agree with the Minister on that. We also want to record yet again our gratitude to the National Party shadow Leader of the House for making sure that this bill was accelerated on the parliamentary agenda when this Government decided not to do that. 
 The National Party in Opposition is still concerned about the ability of the police to enforce these laws. There is no point in giving the police new powers to confiscate vehicles and apply substantial new fines when there are no police on the streets to actually do that. We know that on a Friday and Saturday night in greater Auckland there is a police force that is understaffed by between 130 and 160 staff. We know that on some nights in south Auckland there are only two patrol cars for the several hundred thousand people who live there. We say that if there is to be a burnout and a drag race then just one cop car in the whole of south Auckland will not fix the problem. While the National Party is happy to support these new powers coming from the select committee in its multiparty recommendations we would give one word of caution—that is the public should not expect a huge and immediate change as a result of this legislation because there are simply not the police numbers to mount a sustained attack on boy racers. It is sure that there will be an immediate flurry as the police use the new powers granted to them to deal with boy racers—and that might last a month or two—but because of the considerable underfunding under-resourcing and understaffing of police particularly in Auckland this legislation will not necessarily be the long-term fix that New Zealanders have been seeking. 
The select committee did a very good job in listening to over 72 hours of submissions and deliberation and it has substantially rewritten the bill from its original form. The police could use other powers against those boy racers. There is no reason that they could not be issuing fines up to $150 for noisy vehicles with exhaust problems or issuing fines up to $600 for vehicles causing an annoyance. Those are some of the powers that the police have at the moment. Similarly if fines were unpaid there is no reason that the Department of Courts could not seize the vehicles involved and have them realised pending the non-payment of those fines. But we have a dysfunctional Department of Courts that is unable to collect enforceable penalties against the public and so the police and the public cannot rely on the laws that are currently there. I would draw members’ attention to the commentary from the select committee that says that while there are sufficient powers at the moment particularly for confiscating vehicles there are some limitations on those powers which usually relate to drivers who are unlicensed or who have had their licences suspended and also to difficulties in enforcing vehicle noise standards. 
I want to draw to the attention of the House the fact that the select committee spent some time in clarifying rule changes that the Land Transport Safety Authority is making in respect of excessive vehicle noise. The problems with boy racers are not limited to burnouts and racing but to the associated noise of boom boxes and excessive exhaust noise. That is all part of what irritates and concerns the public about the whole boy-racer issue. While we have provided some strengthened powers for the release of vehicles once they have been confiscated and are due to be returned upon the payment of a penalty it will be the responsibility of the Land Transport Safety Authority to enforce stricter rules with regard to boom boxes or stereos and similarly with exhaust systems. The draft vehicle equipment rule being worked on by the Land Transport Safety Authority under consultation is expected to contain requirements to ensure that the level of noise emitted from new or modified exhaust systems is less than or similar to that of the original exhaust system. I think that that will fix a substantial part of the problem. What is of concern is that these changes particularly those related to devices such as boom boxes and exhausts may not come into effect for some time. 
We know that the Minister of Transport was previously the Minister of Commerce. It has been reported that one of the reasons that he was dumped as Minister of Commerce was his inability to progress anything through his department. What concerns me about Mr Swain as Minister of Transport is the question of how long it will take him to do anything about the excessive vehicle and boom-box noise associated with the boy-racer problem. He has a record of not being able to deliver speedily in areas like that and that is another concern that the National Party in Opposition wants to raise with Parliament. 
Concern has also been expressed about the role the Attorney-General has played with her opinion in respect of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. I disagree completely with the advice of that Minister Margaret Wilson that this bill was a breach of that Act. Many of her opinions have become a suitable device for imposing her politically correct views on the House. In fact I cannot recognise one member of this House who would think that the rights of the community should be stomped on in order to protect the rights of boy racers to speed up and down the country to create mayhem and to disrupt communities. Margaret Wilson’s opinion was specious completely unjustifiable and totally unnecessary. I cannot understand the logic that would lead her to want to table such an opinion. 
In conclusion National Party members are pleased to have been able to work with other parties to rewrite this bill completely and make sure that it is more appropriate than originally proposed. It was the National Party - led Opposition that saw this bill accelerated up the parliamentary agenda turned into a Government bill and debated today. Without the National Party and the other Opposition parties pressuring the Government to bring this bill to the fore of the parliamentary agenda we would still not be debating this topic today. It took the National Party in Opposition with the support of the other parties to bring this legislation to Parliament. 
Finally we also want to bring to Parliament’s attention the fact that there is no point in giving the police these new powers if they are insufficiently resourced to enforce the laws we are giving them. We must say that we have that very real concern.