KEY POINTS:
Manukau City Council has been given special powers to control graffiti in its own area under legislation passed by Parliament last night.
Despite a select committee recommending it should not be enacted, and the Government introducing its own bill to deal with the problem, MPs backed the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill 109-11 on its third reading.
"The recommendation of the select committee was that the bill go down the toilet," said triumphant Manurewa MP George Hawkins, who promoted it.
"Well, it ain't going down the toilet. It's being passed into law."
The bill, which was drafted by the council and is not Government legislation, survived because of Mr Hawkins' tenacity.
After the local government select committee gave it the thumbs down because it did not believe laws should be passed that made one place different to others, he persuaded a majority of MPs to support it. When that happened, the Labour caucus threw its weight behind the bill.
It has taken Mr Hawkins since December 2005 to get the bill through Parliament.
"It's been here for some little while. It's taken some time for people to realise the anger, the frustration that the people of Manukau have had over the years," he said during the third reading debate.
"There are 300,000 tags each year in Manukau City ... It's refreshing that MPs can work together for one community."
National's Clevedon MP, Judith Collins, said Mr Hawkins had shown remarkable courage. "The Government didn't support the bill, but he just kept on. "He worked with other MPs, across the House, and put Manukau City first."
The Act Party opposed the bill.
"This is rubbish - the only reason parties are jumping around is because of the election," said leader Rodney Hide.
"It won't fix the problem. MPs know it's not a solution ... We all love George Hawkins; I'd like to support his bill but in good conscience I can't."
The Maori Party and the Greens also opposed it.
Green Party MP Sue Bradford said the select committee was right and there should not be different laws in different parts of the country.
"It reminds me of apartheid in South Africa."
Ms Bradford, and the Maori Party's Te Ururoa Flavell, said graffiti was a symptom of deeper problems such as social alienation and poverty.
The bill gives the council statutory power to:
* Regulate the display of spray paint in shops and its sale to minors;
* Create offences specifically covering graffiti; and
* Remove graffiti on private property if it is visible from a public place.
It also gives police the power to require information and arrest a person suspected of an offence.
The Government's Summary Offences (Tagging and Graffiti Vandalism) Bill is in a select committee and is some months away from becoming law.
- NZPA
