A bill that outlaws tagging and bans spray can sales to youth in Manukau is expected to pass its final stages in Parliament this week, making the city the first area able to put new anti-tagging measures into practice.
The Manukau District Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill has
broad political support and if it passes, taggers in the city will be the first hit by $2000 fines and bans on spray can sales to under 18-year-olds.
Despite initially opposing its provisions, the Government decided to back the legislation after using it as the basis for its own Tagging and Graffiti Vandalism Bill.
The bill, which is now before a select committee, was introduced in February in response to a backlash following the killing of 15-year-old Pihema Cameron after he was caught tagging.
A spokesman for the Minister of Justice, Annette King, said the government agreed to support the Manukau bill because it only covered a small part of the country and would lapse when the Government's own legislation passed.
There was a lead-in time before the Manukau bill would have any effect, and the Government's bill was expected to pass before then.
The bill was rejected by a select committee because of age discrimination and allowing police the power to require suspects to give their details and dob in accomplices. However, it was later watered down so its provisions aligned with those in the Government bill.
Manukau Mayor Len Brown has said passing the Manukau bill would mean his city could begin to address its graffiti problems without having to wait while the Government's Tagging and Graffiti Vandalism Bill went through Parliament.
The Manukau bill, sponsored by Labour MP George Hawkins, was introduced in 2005 to help the council fight the problem of tagging which was costing the council about $1 million a year in clean-up costs.
Both bills ban sales of spray cans to under 18-year-olds, restrict display of spray cans and make graffiti a specific offence with penalties of up to $2000 fines and community sentences.
