Mapp Wayne: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Mapp Wayne: Land Transport Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1949] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 For the benefit of listeners that was the Hon Harry Duynhoven. If they want to know why he is not in Cabinet that is the reason. 
What the Minister for Transport Safety has done is allow rapists to apply for a taxi licence. That is what he has done. I want to make it perfectly clear that that happens. The Minister should have listened to Chester Borrows who is an expert in this field has huge experience in it and knows that rapists have had sentences of less than 12 months. The truth is that those people do pose greater risks. [ 
Interruption 
] The Minister Lianne Dalziel who interjected was actually on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee last year and said that rapists should not be able to apply for a taxi licence. In fact she was really firm on that. She said that Deborah Coddington was absolutely right that rapists should have no prospect of getting a taxi licence. That is what she said then. I heard it myself because I was on the select committee. What has she said today? She has said: “Oh well they can apply. It doesn’t really matter very much.” Frankly it is absurd. 
I want to put on record that yes National has been concerned about the people who are affected by sections 134 and 135 of the Crimes Act. The Minister actually knows that. They are the vast majority of the people affected by last year’s amendment. Notwithstanding the concerns we had about the select committee’s report back we would have voted for the reported-back legislation on its third reading. We would have done that because it essentially fixed the problem. The problem now is that there is not just the Minister’s amendment—I concede that Mr Duynhoven’s had a degree of restraint because it was confined to sections 134 and 135—but the Minister foolishly has agreed to Mr Anderton’s amendment. I am being charitable in saying that clearly he did that in haste because it was tabled very late and he was possibly ignorant of its effects. [ 
Interruption 
] Why has the Hon Lianne Dalziel who was so firm in the select committee last year so absolutely convinced that no rapist should ever have a taxi licence in any circumstance—the Minister cannot deny that because she knows what I am saying is correct—flip-flopped today? I think that frankly is outrageous. 
The Minister for Transport Safety asked about the distinction between a sexual offender and a serious violent offender and that is a fair question. The evidence shows that people guilty of sexual offences—and I am sure Chester Borrows would affirm this—have a greater propensity to reoffend committing the same type of offence than do people who committed serious violent offences many years ago. I have heard Mr Chester Borrows say right now that that is so. The reason he can say it is that he is an expert in this field. He was a police officer of many years’ standing including as a detective. No one else in this Parliament can actually make that claim. No one else in this Parliament has had that close experience in recent years of what actually happens. 
Ignorant Supplementary Order Papers have been put forward particularly the one from Mr Anderton and it is frankly disgraceful that the Government allowed his Supplementary Order Paper to go forward and totally negate what the select committee did last year. I concede the select committee made a mistake. The recent report back from the select committee would have fixed that mistake. National members would have been prepared to vote for the third reading of the bill as reported back. We are absolutely adamant that we will not vote for rapists to be able to apply for a taxi licence. [ 
Interruption 
] 
I think this needs to be put on record. The person interjecting—for the benefit of listeners—is Mrs Jill Pettis. She is the previous member for Whanganui. She thinks it is OK for rapists to apply for taxi licences. I am not surprised that she was defeated by the very able and vastly more experienced current member for Whanganui Mr Chester Borrows. The voters had a very clear and obvious choice to make and it is hardly surprising that they voted for Mr Chester Borrows because the member Jill Pettis has proven to be such a failure. The more she interjects the more foolish she shows herself to be. 
National members are outraged at the range of Supplementary Order Papers put forward by the Government. We are amazed that other parties voted for Mr Anderton’s amendment. It is a disgrace. I would like to see the Minister for Small Business defend rapists being able to apply for taxi licences. She must know that is unreasonable because that is exactly what she said in the select committee last year. On the basis of trying to fix what is quite a narrow issue the Government has completely gutted the intent of protecting the public. That is why National members cannot support this third reading. We are very clear on that. We are saying: “Clean up the taxi industry and reduce the level of discretion of the Secretary for Transport.” We are saying that murderers rapists and other serious sexual offenders should not be able to apply for taxi licences and that if they have had them they should not have them for the future. This Labour Government is so morally bankrupt that it is allowing those people to apply for licences. I find that appalling. 
That was not what the concern of the public was. The concern of the public—and indeed the people affected—was real and genuine. I acknowledge that to the Minister and I had some of those concerns. We could have fixed them by a narrowly focused amendment and if we had done that— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: You didn’t even vote for my amendment. 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: Because the Minister’s amendment was wrong but we would have voted for the report back from the select committee which was focused and had a bright line. I just want to restate it. It had simple principles. It stated that sexual offenders who had not gone to jail could apply to have their licences back and in all probability they would have got them back. We said that going forward we needed to have a firm policy for the future for the safety of passengers particularly young women in taxis. So we are saying—bright line—that an offender guilty of a sexual offence cannot apply. That was the stance taken by the Minister for Small Business. She has not just recanted as bad as that is; she has done a grave disservice to women and young people in New Zealand. She said she was going to clean up the taxi industry and she was proud to have done that. She has now opened the door to the very thing we opposed last year the very things in the industry that we tried to fix up. Now because of Mr Anderton’s stupid amendment the Government has allowed rapists to apply for taxi-driving certificates. Frankly I think that is appalling.