Connell Brian: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Connell Brian: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4578] 
BRIAN CONNELL (NZ National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I have listened to this debate very carefully and I thought when I came to the House this afternoon there would be a very strong collective will to pass this legislation through the House. I am appalled—I have to use that word—at some of the comments I am hearing from parties I never thought I would hear them from. I have to say that it is nothing less than appalling that we have bleeding heart lounge bar liberals who would rather stand behind boy racers who destroy families and people’s quality of life. 
I use the example of West Melton in my electorate. Mr Mark referred to it before but I have been petitioned by people in that area in their droves. They are not just concerned about people engaged in racing on the roads; they are desperately concerned about the noise and the damage to their property and they are asking why they cannot have something done about it. They are also saying that if Parliament does nothing they will take the law into their own hands and do something about it. That is an appalling set of circumstances an appalling set of events where people who are otherwise law-abiding citizens have been driven to a point of desperation and are saying: “If you don’t we will.” They say they know they will be breaking the law but that we leave them with no choice. 
I for one am prepared to do something about that and I am desperately concerned that the ACT members are not. I will be interested to see Ken Shirley get on his feet to see whether the views of some of the ACT members who have spoken are representative of what the deputy leader of ACT actually says to us. 
Impoundment is the provision that I want to go to; it is the heart of the debate. My view is that unless we are prepared to take the vehicles off the road this legislation will not have any teeth. Here is another appalling circumstance that I encountered in my home town of Christchurch. A boy racer with a known record of engaging in illegal street racing activities was coming down a main thoroughfare in Christchurch at 170-180 kilometres an hour and he ran into a young Chinese girl who was out here visiting. Not only was she killed as one would expect when someone is hit by a car at that speed but her body was unrecognisable. 
Ron Mark 
: Ripped apart. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: She was ripped apart as Mr Mark says. Can members imagine the phone call that the people in Christchurch who were fostering that child at the time had to make to her parents in China? From the way it was reported in the Christchurch  
Press 
 they had to tell the parents they thought their daughter was dead. They had to say they could not be absolutely certain because the police could not recognise the body. 
That did not have to happen. If this law had been enacted some time ago that person’s car would have been off the road. It is an appalling indictment on this House that we could not have done that and could not have done it more quickly and it is an appalling indictment on the ACT party. I am not surprised at the Greens but it is an indictment on the ACT party members that they are now prepared to stand up and say that they would rather support people who engage in that type of activity and that they are not concerned about the victims. I never thought I would hear it coming from that party. 
Despite the general view boy racers are mainly from middle-income New Zealand families. They have vehicles that are valued conservatively from $15000 up to $60000—in fact I think someone even mentioned an example of a car worth $80000. The only way to hurt these people is to take their pride and joy and their pride and joy is the vehicle. They are not 15 16 or 17-year-olds and they are not just male. Twenty-five percent are female and they are aged in their mid-20s to their 30s. They know better. They know they are baiting the police. They know they are disturbing members of the public. They know they are damaging property. They know that what they are doing is inciting trouble and it is incumbent on members of this House to stand up and say we will deal to them.