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Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced a 10-fold increase in the maximum fine for tagging in a bid to stamp out the "destructive crime".
Miss Clark today announced a sweeping set of measures to tackle graffiti vandalism including a ban on the sale of spraycans to under 18-year-olds and a new offence for tagging under the Summary Offences Act.
The new offence will carry a maximum fine of $2000, up from the current $200 for "defacing" property.
Judges will also be able to order taggers to undertake community work to "put right the wrong they've done".
An example would be cleaning up tagging and graffiti in their own communities.
The changes would also require shopkeepers to keep spray cans secure so they could not be accessed without the help of shop staff, with a possible fine of $1500 for those who fail to comply.
Helen Clark said $6 million would also be injected into the community sector over the next three years to help local groups deal with the problem and police would more actively target tagging hot spots.
"Most taggers are in their teens and we intend to make it much harder for them to access their tools of vandalism," Miss Clark said.
"Tagging is a destructive crime and represents an invasion of private and public property.
"Its presence in an area also contributes to fears that the place is not safe. That too is destructive of communities."
Helen Clark formally announced the new measures at Auckland's Clendon Skate Park this morning.
The new penalties and controls will involve legislation, which the Government is expected to put on the fast track in Parliament.
Helen Clark said one of the aims of the campaign was to involve community groups in areas where tagging is a serious problem.
Of the $6 million funding announced, $800,000 a year will go towards $20,000 grants to local community groups for anti-graffiti initiatives.
A further $1 million a year goes into a contestable fund for local government initiatives.
The other $200,000 a year will go towards restorative justice initiatives for tagging offenders and victims.
Helen Clark said an advisory group would also be set up to help finalise a comprehensive "Stop Tagging Our Place" (STOP) strategy that Cabinet would consider by July.
Councils are likely to welcome the announcement. Manukau City has been pressing the Government for at least two years to put more teeth into graffiti laws.
Cleaning up graffiti costs Auckland and Manukau cities almost $3 million a year.
But the ban on paint sales to under-18s is likely to draw criticism from civil libertarians because human rights laws give people over 16 freedom from age-based discrimination unless there is good reason for it.
The Manukau City Council tried to introduce a ban on sales to under-18s in a 2005 local anti-graffiti bill, but the legislation was condemned by the Children's Commissioner and did not pass its Bill of Rights Act check conducted by the Ministry of Justice.
The select committee report on the Manukau City (Control of Graffiti) Bill said the ban proposal seemed "disproportionately severe" and could affect people buying spray paint for legitimate reasons.
The ban could also upset retailers, especially if any restrictions on display of spray paint in shops added to their costs.
In its legal advice on the Bill of Rights aspects of the Manukau legislation, the Justice Ministry said the "social nuisance" caused by graffiti outweighed any freedom of expression issues in making tagging an offence.
But there was not enough evidence to link selling spray paint to minors with the graffiti problem to justify a ban on sales to under-18s.
The Government has been working on today's measures since the middle of last year, when it promised nationwide laws based on Manukau's bill.
Justice Minister Annette King promised anti-tagging measures during the heated public debate over the issue after the fatal stabbing of Pihema Cameron, 15, who was allegedly tagging a Manurewa property before his death.
South Auckland businessman Bruce William Emery, 50, was charged with his murder.
The National Party has called for the measures in the Manukau bill to be introduced nationally, and today's announcement will be welcomed by Manukau Mayor Len Brown, who has been pressing the Government to introduce national legislation since the Manukau bill was stalled.
But a hard-line stance is likely to draw criticism from the Maori Party.
Its co-leader, Tariana Turia, has defended tagging as a freedom of expression, saying: "It is about resistance, it is about alternative points of view." (Click here for streetarse.co.nz - an archive of graffiti)
She said punishing the offender was not the only answer.
"We must look beyond simply seeking to punish the offender as the only answer to all the issues in our community."
She did support a restorative justice approach and more education, but said taggers should also be given areas in which they could do their painting.
- WITH NZPA
