Robertson Grant: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
Robertson Grant: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1648] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to follow Mrs Goudie. I thought her speech was heading towards her saying that the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill was to become a Government bill. If she is so enthusiastic about it and thinks that it is such a fantastic idea why has it not been picked up as a Government bill? When Labour was in Government we did that with the graffiti legislation and the boy racer legislation. I suspect that one of the reasons it has not been picked up as a Government bill is that not everyone on the Government side of the House really supports it. My colleague Clayton Cosgrove has already mentioned Kate Wilkinson’s views about it. At the National Party northern region annual general meeting in 2006 Richard Worth said “Efforts to ban gang patches while well intentioned may in fact aid some gang’s deliberate efforts to lower their profile.” I think there is some dissension on the other side of the House. We certainly know that during the first reading of the bill the ACT Party members were totally opposed to it. They were going to support it through to the Law and Order Committee in order to have a debate but Rodney Hide said that he was totally opposed to it. As the debate goes on tonight I will be very interested to see what kind of support the ACT Party gives it. 
We have a serious problem with crime committed by gangs. We have a serious problem with violence in our towns and cities and that needs a serious response to those issues; a serious response not a cosmetic response. With great respect for the people of Wanganui I am sad to say that this bill represents a cosmetic response to those problems. I understand and I care about the concerns of the people of Wanganui regarding violence but I do not believe that this bill is going to meet those concerns. 
I congratulate Chester Borrows as the local member on bringing this bill through. It is a local bill built of local concerns. As a local member he has done the right thing in bringing it through to the House. But I believe it is flawed. It is flawed because the patches that gang members wear do not commit the crime. The patches do not perpetrate the violence; it is the people. We have to work as a community right across New Zealand on the causes of crime. In the Wanganui police district in 2007 there were 1000 domestic violence incidents. If we are really serious about addressing the causes of violence and crime around the country we need to go to those root causes. We do not need to make cosmetic responses because they will not work and they actually lead the public astray in terms of what is possible and what is achievable. 
Taking a piecemeal and ad hoc approach to these sorts of laws is the wrong way to go. Any criminal lawyer worth his or her salt will say that we should not make criminal law on a region-by-region basis. All that does is shift problems around. It simply shifts the problem from one region to another creating confusion for the justice system. It is not the way to address these sorts of issues. The Government should be taking an overall approach to this issue. My colleague Clayton Cosgrove has already talked about some of the work that we have done and we are looking into what is happening in South Australia. We need to ensure that we look at those examples test them see what works and come up with a comprehensive plan for New Zealand as a whole. The Wanganui district has a problem with some of the violence and crime perpetrated by gangs but it will not be solved by a piecemeal and ad hoc approach that simply pushes crime around the region. 
I note that the issue of definitions in this bill presents some problems. The bill talks about public areas and public spaces and the council will define those. But the council will not ensure that there are no gang patches in Castlecliff Gonville Tawhero or anywhere like that. The council will not be looking at those places; it will be looking at the centre of town. In the end all that is doing is papering over the problem wishing it away by saying “We will take a cosmetic solution”. The Wanganui District Council has defined the problem but this response is not the answer. As we know patches are only one part of gang insignia. My colleague across the House Chester Borrows has already mentioned the issue of the colours red and blue which are familiar to those of us in the House. But if we are going to move down the path of saying what an insignia is—a colour a scarf another form of clothing or some sort of jewellery—then in the end we get ourselves into the problem of definition and that will not do anything to reduce crime and violence in Wanganui. 
We know from the bill and from the select committee debate that the definitions around gangs gang insignia and public places are complicated and difficult issues. While the committee no doubt laboured hard to come up with definitions that would provide some certainty I believe it has not been able to do that in this bill. As a result the Labour Party is opposing the bill. We are opposing it because we do not believe that it is a solution to the problem of gang violence and gang intimidation. We need to start right at the beginning and stop people from joining gangs and we need to do that by ensuring that we work on building strong families and whanau right across New Zealand. We need to ensure that they get the services they need they live in warm dry homes they get their children to school they are supported to keep involved in our communities and they feel like they have a place in our communities. I will never stand up in this House and defend gangs of the type that are talked about in this bill but I will stand up in this House and say that the people who join those gangs should not be there in the first place. We as a community should be taking some responsibility for ensuring that we create the kind of society that those people are included in and want to be a part of. 
Once again I say to Chester Borrows that he has brought this bill before the House as a good local member but unfortunately it will not solve the problems of gang violence and gang crime in the Wanganui district. It will merely paper over the cracks and unfortunately the Labour Party cannot support it. Thank you.