Labour's Justice spokesperson Duncan Webb Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour is calling on the government to send the gang patch ban back to select committee for consultation after yet another last-minute amendment.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith's office confirmed on Tuesday night the government would be sending the bill back to Parliament to ensure it includes gang patches and symbols being displayed in cars, as whether the bill as it stood would in fact cover them was in dispute.
"There was some debate around whether gang insignia being displayed from inside a car would be covered by the ban. We decided to clarify, and make sure it was covered completely. We make no apologies for getting tough on gangs."
The bill had only been waiting for the final, third-reading, stage before getting the Governor-General's signoff - but now will be sent for a second Committee of the Whole House stage. The amendment will ensure the ban does affect insignia displayed from vehicles.
However, Labour's Duncan Webb had already raised concerns about insignia displayed on cars during the last Committee of the Whole House stage, which aims give MPs the chance to propose amendments and work towards better legislation together.
"I raised the issue of insignia on cars and the minister was frankly dismissive. He made a joke and moved on and didn't really address the issue," he told RNZ.
"I was the opposition doing my job, pointing out flaws, and he batted them away without really caring. Now turns out his officials were listening, they realised I had a point, and now they've come back and said 'we've got a problem'."
The matter at hand is slightly different from the point Webb raised at the time - in early August - which questioned whether police could confiscate the entire vehicle if it was displaying a sticker with gang insignia on it.
Goldsmith then said: "my guess is if somebody had a car with a sticker affixed to it and were at risk of having the car forfeited, they would probably peel the sticker off and give it to the constable, would be my guess".
Webb told RNZ the bill being returned again showed it was a "mess".
"This minister is disorganised. He's had last-minute amendments in the committee stage, two of them, and this is yet another example of just not being over his portfolio.
"This looks like a technical fix but he's had months and months to get it right and this bill is just an absolute mess."
It is the second time a last-minute amendment has been made to the bill, after Goldsmith added additional search powers for police allowing them to enter the homes of gang members if they had been prosecuted three times over the display of insignia.
Webb said the bill should go back even further in the legislative process, for consultation on all the changes.
"This bill should go back to select committee. There's been significant amendment to it since it left select committee, amendments without any consultation, and it's just really poor process.
"So send it back to select committee, get the public's view on it, get experts' views on it, and perhaps this kind of mistake won't happen."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell on Tuesday had brushed off concerns about a lack of consultation over the search powers, pointing to the clause having gone through Cabinet and the previous Committee of the Whole House stage.
NZ First leader Winston Peters on Tuesday said he did not think a select committee process was needed because that change had been urgently needed.
Webb questioned that stance.
"Where's the urgency? I'm not hearing a lot of harm from gang patches being displayed from cars, you know? There are no real problems that need immediate attention. Let's actually take our job seriously and get this right, and that's what the select committee process is for."