Lillian
Hanly Political Reporter
The government’s move-on
orders are being described as “morally indefensible”,
“unnecessary” and a “breach of the Bill of
Rights.”
But one of the very few submitters in support
says the system currently has no teeth to deal with
aggressive and non compliant behaviour.
Oral
submissions on the Summary Offences (Move-on Orders)
Amendment Bill were being heard by the Justice committee on
Monday.
The government wants to give police the power
to order people as young as 14 to move elsewhere or face a
possible jail sentence if they were being disorderly,
begging or rough sleeping.
The legislation would make
it a criminal offence to remove the move-on order, and those
who do so face a fine or a period of imprisonment
Paul
McMahon said the bill was unnecessary; “everything genuinely
harmful that this bill is aimed at, is already against the
law”.
“The police say it isn’t needed, the Ministry of
Justice says it won’t work, and shouldn’t be done. The
Attorney-General says it breaches our Bill of
Rights.
“When a government has to override its own
police, its own officials, and its own law officer to pass
its own bill, that is usually a sign that a bill should not
pass.”
Margy-Jean Malcolm called it “morally
indefensible, legally unnecessary and fiscally
irresponsible”.
Public Housing Futures campaigner
Vanessa Cole said legislation should be passed that takes
the housing crisis seriously, “and moves people from the
streets and their cars into permanent and stable
housing”.
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“Not legislation that displaces homeless
whānau, and put them at risk of being criminalised and
imprisoned for not having access to housing.”
Cole
said town and city centres weren’t struggling because people
were sleeping on the streets, “people are sleeping on the
streets for the same reason shops are struggling to keep
their doors open: an economic system where the super wealthy
are siphoning more and more from everyday people.”
She
also called the legislation a breach of the Bill of Rights,
inconsistent with the rights of freedom of expression and
movement.
Teirangi Klever used spoken word to make her
point, saying move-on orders were apparently here to protect
“everyday people.”
“Everyday people is the phrase I’ve
heard.
“Everyday people – I keep turning it over on my
tongue until it cuts the roof of my mouth trying to work out
who falls through the gap between every and day because
every day I see people carrying everything they own inside
of a backpack.”
He Kainga Oranga, Housing and Health
Research Programme, University of Otago Professor Nevil
Pierse provided an example of seeing a 15-year-old girl
sleeping outside their building on his way to
work.
“She wasn’t causing trouble, she wasn’t
threatning anyone, she wasn’t blocking the doorway. She was
simply a young person with no place safe to go.”
He
said that experience was relevant because this bill would
make her behaviour a criminal matter for enforcement and
punishment rather than care and support.
Other
submitters echoed the concern the legislation wasn’t focused
on the causes of rough sleeping, or the related mental
health or poverty issues.
CEO of Lifewise Pam Elgar
said the bill criminalises rough sleeping and begging
without addressing the “root causes of homelessness,
addiction, trauma, poverty or mental health
need.”
Pillar NZ (Protecting Individual Life Liberty
and Rights) Head of Operations Arian Tashakkori said this
legislation sets a “poor legal precedent” when it comes to
the protection of civil liberties in the country.
He
said he was sympathetic to the goals of ensuring safer
central business districts, but didn’t support the bill in
its current form.
He said police – if given the power
to intervene – but where and when they do, their powers must
be clearly defined, proportionate, and considerate of the
practical consequences of displacement.
A school
teacher from Whangārei, Simone Ackermann, spoke of her
community feeling unprotected by the law while a public
reserve was “taken over” by long term vehicle
encampments.
She said for 18 months she felt the
system “dropped the ball” while the community was subjected
to “relentless loud music through the night.”
“We were
subjected to drinking, drug taking and fighting directly
beside a children’s playground. Vandalism, including faeces
being smeared over public toilets. Intimidation, verbal
abuse and midnight property trespassing.
“We also
witnessed individuals masturbating out their vehicles in
full view of families at playgrounds.”
Ackermann said
they contacted local council, visited the police,
distributed pamphlets in the neighbourhood, and engaged with
the local MP. But she said the current law didn’t allow for
immediate meaningful action.
“The system simply has no
teeth to deal with the sort of issues we
encountered.”
Submissions continue on
Friday.
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