Wednesday, May 06, 2009

They have us over a barrel 2

So we can't stop gangs and their women from bludging off us wholesale BUT we can take away their patches. Yes. Just confirmed in parliament, ACT (or at least ACT's leader who took the call) is going to vote for the Gang Insignia Bill because patches constitute intimidation; because David Garrett has gone to Wanganui and talked to the police and the gangs, and the police have promised to enforce the ban and the gangs have said they will stop wearing their patches.

No. This isn't a piss take.

Update;

Hide said in his speech that the passage of the bill relied on his vote. It didn't. Perhaps he miscalculated. Perhaps he saw an opportunity to buy the popular vote. It is the first time we have seen ACT's split vote facility in action. It won't be the last.

The split vote is a sop to members. It'll allow ACT to support National in the passage of authoritarian and conservative legislation, while continuing to claim their liberal principles to members. It is a cynical manipulation of supporters. I agree entirely with Blair Mulholland about what ACT's role should be.

Bernard Darnton also hits a different nail on the head with this observation;

Backers of the law claim that it’s necessary to crack down on gang members and that they need to be cracked down on because they’re always breaking stuff and hurting people. If that was true you wouldn’t need a law against leather jackets, you could just arrest all these gangsters under the Prohibition of Breaking Stuff (and Hurting People) Act.

2 comments:

Mark.V. said...

Gang members are easily identified while they wear their patches, now without their patches they will simply blend into the community. Their behaviour won't change however.

Anonymous said...

Gang members don't give a stuff about the law or anyone else for that matter. They certainly won't give a rats arse about this. So this is laughable particularly considering Greg O'Connor was quoted as saying it will alter gang members behaviour. Greg should know better. Gang members don't know how to behave. They don't give a shit. And they certainly won't worry about a long-socked, pencil-behind-the-ear council bureaucrat telling them to take off their jacket. Their response will be what was in that Clint Eastwood movie a few years ago "I'm going to rip off your head and shit down your neck".