Ross Jami-Lee: Hutt City Council (Graffiti Removal) Bill — First Reading 
Ross Jami-Lee: Hutt City Council (Graffiti Removal) Bill — First Reading 
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JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 I am pleased to stand in support of the Hutt City Council (Graffiti Removal) Bill. I think it is timely that more graffiti legislation is debated in this House and I say congratulations to the Hutt City Council on bringing this to the House.  
I also have to say that I was a little surprised to actually see this bill in the name of Trevor Mallard. We know that Trevor has an exceptionally busy schedule being a professional cyclist part-time MP and part-time amateur ticket sales agent so having the time to bring this bill to the House and write such a bill must have been quite onerous. So credit where credit is due. I congratulate Trevor Mallard on bringing this to the House as well.  
Graffiti for communities is quite a scourge. It is a problem that communities up and down the country have to deal with. The Hutt City Council like many councils has been having a difficult time and bringing this bill to the House in the name of Trevor Mallard after he wrote it during his busy schedule will help the Hutt City Council should it be passed by this Parliament to deal with the graffiti issue.  
I have actually had a little bit of experience with a local bill around graffiti. I am a former member of the Manukau City Council and several years ago the council put together a bill on graffiti the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill on which I participated in the discussions when I was a member of that council. Subsequent to that bill being passed by this Parliament those who know the history of graffiti bills will be aware that the Labour Government in 2008 subsequently repealed the Manukau bill and put in place a new set of provisions around graffiti.  
Annette King I understand was the justice Minister at the time and I was pleased as a member of the council at the time to see the Government of the time debating the legislation around graffiti changes and having in place some nationwide changes. Those who have seen that particular graffiti legislation and I think this is a question that applies to Hutt City as well will see that one of the main provisions that the Labour Government’s graffiti legislation put in place was to restrict the sale of spray-cans to those over 18. Graffiti unfortunately is committed by many young people around the country and perhaps that is a particular problem for Hutt City as well.  
Someone was telling me earlier that there is a member in this House who knows a little bit about selling items to young people and the problems that can come about through selling items to young people. Does anyone know of a member in the House who knows a little bit about selling items to young people? [ 
Interruption 
] I can hear someone saying “Trevor Mallard”. Does Trevor Mallard know a little bit about selling items to young people and the problems that can come out of that? The Government in 2008 did a good job of restricting the sale of spray-cans to those over the age of 18 and I hope that the members opposite know a bit more about the problems of selling items to people who are of a younger age particularly under the age of 18.  
An additional provision that the 2008 graffiti legislation put in place and again I think this applies to the Hutt City situation is that the sale of spray-cans in shops is now restricted. Restricting the sale of those spray-cans keeping them in locked boxes means that it is much more difficult for people to get access to spray-cans. I would have hoped that after that legislation was passed councils like the Hutt City Council had reduced numbers of incidences of graffiti. I hope that was the case because that was an important provision in the bill.  
In researching a little bit for my speech that I wanted to give on this bill I did think to myself what the situation could be for Hutt City Council if sales of spray-cans were made online. Access in shops is now more difficult so perhaps younger people are turning to online sales. The most prevalent place for sales to take place online is TradeMe. So I went along this afternoon to TradeMe and I had a little look online to see whether there were any sales of spray-cans by providers in the Hutt City Council area. My attention was particularly drawn to the TradeMe account of bubs242. You see bubs242 I understand is a TradeMe member based in Hutt City. I wondered whether bubs242 had been selling any spray-cans. It turns out that bubs242 has since deleted his account; it no longer exists. I wonder which account the Hon Trevor Mallard uses now. I support this bill and I hope it passes through its first reading.