Support wavering for car-crushing law

Labour says Judith Collins' car-crushing bill weakens the power of vehicle confiscation. Photo / The Aucklander

The proposed law behind Police Minister Judith Collins' nickname "Crusher Collins" - a pledge to crush the cars of persistent boy-racer offenders - could be in trouble.

Labour has decided not to support the bill, saying it actually weakens the power of vehicle confiscation.

The Maori Party expressed reservations about the powers it gave to the police when it initially supported it to a select committee and has not yet decided how to vote on the bill.

And the Act Party with both strong libertarian and strong law-and-order imperatives has not yet decided whether to support its progressing.

Act MP David Garrett was last night meeting the police to discuss the law and would take the matter to the caucus next week. He said that a meeting of the party's law and order focus group on Monday was fairly evenly divided.

"I think we have too many laws and we should [have] as few more laws as possible."

The second element was the property rights issue and he said Parliament should be safeguarding property rights as well as punishing bad behaviour.

The bill proposes that a car be crushed if three illegal street-racing offences occur over a four-year period.

Judith Collins said earlier this year after proposing tighter laws that the message to those who wanted to indulge in illegal street racing was that "every new offence will now bring them closer to the crusher".

Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove said the law he took through Parliament under the previous Government allowed a judge to confiscate a vehicle on a first offence and made it mandatory for judges to confiscate vehicles on the second offence within four years.

Labour welcomed the fact that the bill closed a loophole, letting a vehicle be confiscated even if it is in a third party's name. But Mr Cosgrove did not see why it required a third offence.

Judith Collins said the bill added a third layer of authority to the current law, allowing the court to order that a vehicle be confiscated and destroyed for a third offence within four years.

"If the court does not order that the vehicle be confiscated and destroyed, it must still confiscate the vehicle unless this would cause extreme hardship to the offender or ... someone else."