Botany Pansy Speak

28 May 2010

D-Day looming for Te Irirangi

On Monday the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee reported back to the house on the third and final piece of legislation required to set up the one Auckland City. With the Bill's emergence from the select committee phase the remaining parliamentary process will unravel over the next couple of weeks.

Part of this process will be a committee debate in the house during which I will convey the strong feeling of our patch. I have received a strong and clear message from residents that they would prefer the name of the new ward and local board to be Howick rather than Te Irirangi and that is the message that I will be delivering in Parliament.

I will do everything I can to effect this change for all residents of Howick, Pakuranga and Botany.

Our youth, our responsibility

Debate about teenage binge drinking has come to the fore once again. In our patch concern over the supply of alcohol at after-ball events has led to a number of schools having to consider whether they would support such events.

In 1999 I voted against lowering the legal age for purchasing liquor from 20 to 18 due to concerns about the lack of a responsible drinking culture. But teenage binge drinking is not a problem that can be solved solely through legislation. It is not reasonable to expect that even the most stringently enforced legal purchasing age will completely abolish binge drinking by our youth. Teenagers being teenagers will find a way.

The responsibility for the care and safety of our next generation falls upon all members of society. It falls upon retailers to ensure that they are not supplying alcohol to under-age teens. It falls upon parents to educate their children of the dangers of alcohol. It falls upon teenagers themselves to heed that advice, and it falls upon leaders within the community to act as role models.

Part of this responsibility is not glamorising or endorsing events which provide an unlimited supply of alcohol to anyone who attends. That is why I congratulate the stance taken by a number of our local school principals not to be complicit in organising alcohol fuelled after-ball functions.

Parents who speak out, role models who step up and school principals who take stands all help to slight the binge drinking practice of our youth. For our part, the Government will be considering the 500 plus pages of the law commission report on curbing harm caused by alcohol.

Support Crime Stoppers

There has been a spate of car break-ins in our patch recently. Thieves have been breaking into vehicles and targeting valuable items such as cell phones, laptops and GPS units. While the police are working hard to investigate, we can all do our part to help. We can all make our vehicles less attractive to thieves by removing valuable items, but we can also be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour we see.

I recently met with members from the independent charity which runs the Crime Stopper line. This service allows people to report crime with a guarantee of anonymity to an organisation which is independent from the government, police and other law enforcement agencies. It has been very successful since it was set up last October and information passed on to the police has helped them to solve crime faster and prevent reoffending. So far the service has received over 3700 calls with more than 1500 of those being categorised as actionable.

You can contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 or submit an encrypted online form via www.crimestoppers-nz.org.

Hon Pansy Wong

MP for Botany

www.pansywong.co.nz

Botany, ours to work and grow together

ENDS

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