Turei Metiria: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
Turei Metiria: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2123] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 I have put an amendment to clause 5A in the pile of amendments on the Table. My amendment is to delete subclause 5(2) which states: “No prosecution under section 6 and no arrest or seizure under section 7 may be challenged on the ground that a notice was not affixed in accordance with subsection (1).” 
My problem with this bill is that it is very unusual. It is very different legislation from what we would otherwise find anywhere in the criminal law book. It provides for a particularly serious level of criminal sanction for a comparatively minor act which is the wearing of a certain kind of clothing. So it is very very important that not just the people of the Wanganui District but anyone who is driving or passing through the district are aware that within a certain boundary there is a law that provides for a criminal offence that is not found anywhere else in this country and which has very serious consequences. If the council is able to include a very broad range of areas under this provision so that that criminal offence applies to a very broad range of areas then it is absolutely essential that in those areas there is signage to tell people that if they wear a certain kind of specified clothing then they are committing a criminal offence. 
Generally speaking in New Zealand law we have a provision that if something is not legislated against then it is permitted. There is a great deal of criminal law that is well understood by the community. It has been built up over a number of years. Most of it—some of it—applies equitably across the whole country so people know that if they are committing a certain kind of offence in Invercargill then it will be an offence in Wellington Northland and Palmerston North. This bill however is very very different because of the by-laws creating a criminal offence. Everyone knows that there are different by-laws around this country but not ones that are as Draconian as this measure providing that a criminal offence is committed by the wearing of certain clothes. There should be no excuse for the council being able to impose that kind of restriction and criminal sanction without advising the community—and in fact the entirety of this country really; people from anywhere may find themselves in the area—that they may be subject to those criminal sanctions. 
Subclause (2) gives the council an excuse to do nothing. The council need not ever post any signage anywhere if it does not think it is reasonably practicable to do so. It can impose this by-law impose the criminal sanctions have the use of the police to back it on this legislation and not provide any public signage or indication that the criminal offence will apply in certain areas. By allowing for subclause (2) there is a real risk that the community simply will not know that they risk committing this criminal offence and will be subject to it. That is grossly unfair. We are not talking about gang members here; we are talking about people who may unwittingly be caught up in that process. 
I know for example Michael Franti has a band with a type of insignia that looks very much like the Black Power insignia—the “power to the people” insignia. The band’s insignia is not a gang insignia but it is very very similar to it in look and style. It is quite possible for an overwrought policeman—and Mr Borrows must have met a few of those in his time—to get a bit overexcited about seeing something that might look like gang insignia but is not necessarily gang insignia. A person who wears such insignia is potentially subject to police searches without a warrant. If the police do not believe that person—perhaps that person is a young Maori man for example; and we know that young Maori men are particularly subject to the criminal law under these circumstances—it is quite possible that that young person could find himself or herself being processed before the police come to their senses and realise that in fact no criminal offence has been committed. The police might also use this law to stop people search them and then find some other reason with which to charge and process them thereby creating a great deal of hassle and cost for the police but also creating for such young people—