Quinn Paul: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
Quinn Paul: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2114] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 It is indeed a pleasure to stand here to support and acknowledge the outstanding work that my colleague and friend Chester Borrows has done to get this very worthwhile bill before this Committee of the whole House through his very hard work with his community in Wanganui. I also want to reflect—and we are talking about clause 5— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: No wrong clause. 
PAUL QUINN 
: —clause 5—that I am bewildered because speaker after speaker from the Opposition has spent most of his or her time addressing us on the basis that this is bad law. My response to that is that firstly those members would know because they have had 9 years of drafting bad law. At the top of that list was of course the Electoral Finance Act and most of them gave us a “mea maxima culpa”. But also there is the mere fact of their contradictions. Earlier we heard about contradictions from Moana Mackey. When I look at the members of the Law and Order Committee who were responsible for reporting this clause 5 back to the House I see that three of them were Labour members and that one was a New Zealand First member. I would have thought that that made a majority on the committee. 
Clause 5 has come back to the House with the full support of the select committee including the changes made to the definition and interpretation of “insignia” “gangs” and all of that yet members opposite spend all night saying they are against it. They should make up their minds. Moana Mackey should not give us a lecture on a contradiction in terms. I am bewildered about this. A mythical character called Martin Gallagher was one of the members on the Law and Order Committee. I have never actually met him but apparently he was an outstanding servant of this House. But there are other members who are still here. Darren Hughes sits amongst us. He gave his stamp of approval to this very worthwhile bill that is now in its Committee stage. He gave it full support yet what do Labour members say now? They say they are against it. Talk about making up one’s mind! Labour members have no idea where they are. 
Clause 5 gives effect to the purpose of this bill. I point out clause 5(5) to Tariana Turia and the Green Party. It seems to me that this is another case of someone who has not read the bill given her previous—I would not call them speeches—comments that this is carte blanche licence to block out gangs from the whole of Wanganui. If members read the provision very carefully and I will read it to them so that they understand it fully it states that the effect of the by-law—[ 
Interruption 
] I know that Chris Hipkins is having trouble with the English language and that he struggles with it from time to time— 
Grant Robertson 
: Take lessons from that member! 
PAUL QUINN 
: I thank Grant Robertson for helping his colleague out. I know that it is all a bit beyond him and that he is still bewildered about being in this Chamber. 
Aaron Gilmore 
: That’s why we need literacy and numeracy in schools. 
PAUL QUINN 
: Yes but let me read this provision. The member probably cannot lip-read so I will have to speak up so members can hear. Clause 5(5) states: “A bylaw must not be made … if the effect of the bylaw either by itself or in conjunction with other bylaws made under subsection (1)(a) would be that all the public places in the district are specified places.” So the law states that one cannot carte blanche wipe out the whole town. I am happy to give the Green Party members a lesson in how to read and write the law but it may take a little longer than we have time for. 
Much of what we have heard tonight has been a lot of hogwash— 
Aaron Gilmore 
: Rhetoric! 
PAUL QUINN 
: —rhetoric—opposing for the sake for opposing.The simple fact is that we hear time and time again from the Opposition about consultation. I just want to take the members to another subclause of clause 5 subclause (2A) in terms of having to go through a consultation process. The members on the opposite side of the Chamber should be falling over themselves at the lengths that Chester Borrows has gone through to make sure that proper process is followed when these sorts of measures are being considered and full consultation— 
Chris Hipkins 
: Ha ha! 
PAUL QUINN 
: Would the member like a copy of the Local Government Act? No? So it is a very democratic process. This is exactly the sort of measure you call for all the time: “Democracy! We want to see democracy!”. The people of Wanganui have called for this and you now want to deny them because you know better. I say to you that you should come down from the ivory tower and get down to where the people are— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I am sure the member opposite as he is educating us needs to be educated that you are being brought into the debate and I am sure that you do know better. He implies that you do not. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: It was hardly necessary to emphasise that. The member just needs to mind his pronouns. I know he is enthusiastic. 
PAUL QUINN 
: I am sorry to have brought you into the debate Mr Chairperson. As I was saying time and time again we have had the need for consultation. The people of Wanganui want this to happen and we are following their wishes. At the same time it will not be carte blanche. It will not bring everyone into the debate and cause everyone to be wiped off the street because a process is set out in here and it has to be gone through in terms of the legislation. We have absolute faith in terms of the discretionary powers that allow the Wanganui District Council to do the job that its people want it to do. But if those members are happy to deny them that then let it be on their heads—be it on their heads. 
I now move on to talk about gangs as they are referred to in clause 5(1)(b) “for the purposes of this Act”. We have heard a lot about gangs and race and that this is a racist bill. Again I point out to my friends and colleagues in the Opposition the definition of gangs—some of which are European but it is not an exclusive list. If the members read paragraph (b) of clause 5(1) they will see that it states any “organisation association or group of persons”. So members can rest assured that it is about people and it is about making sure the proper process is followed because in the end we want to reduce crime. I know that the members on the opposite side of the Chamber do not want to reduce crime. But this bill is just one measure in the suite of processes that we are offering the people and the police to be able to deal with the gang problem. The irony of it all is that we sit here repeatedly being lectured about gangs by the list member from up north somewhere Mr Jones who lambastes us all and does nothing about it just like the rest of his party in the last 9 years. They did nothing about the problem. National is bringing in a suite of instruments a suite of measures and addressing the problem right from the start. Clause 5 is just one of these measures. Thank you Mr Chairman.