Auckland MP tables bill for harsher crack on windscreen washers

An MP for New Zealand's most populous city of Auckland voiced for harsher punishment on windscreen washers at the intersections of the 1.5 million people metropolis suffering more frequent daily traffic congestions.

Jami-Lee Ross, MP for Botany, an eastern suburb of Auckland, has submitted a bill which would give police the power to issue 150 New Zealand dollars or 107 U.S. dollars fines on the spot.

"The police can whack them every single day if they want to," said Ross. "They can target them as often as they want, very quickly -- they just write a fine like they do a speeding ticket," he told an independent and controversial TV presenter and broadcaster Paul Henry on Thursday.

"The council is trying their best, but it costs a lot of money to take a prosecution -- takes a lot of time as well," said the MP.

The Auckland council would have to go through prosecution to fine window washers between 200 and 400 dollars or 144 and 287 U.S. dollars. Since introduction of the bylaw in 2014, 57 have been prosecuted with thousands of dollars to prosecute each case.

Ross who tabled the bill which would wait for a draw from the ballot said window washers are prone to target venerable people, including the aged and new migrants, sometimes by intimidating.

The bill though seemingly not difficult to gather cross-party support would still take time to become law to tackle the window washer seen as safety hazard.

"They intimidate people. It's fine for me -- I'm a big guy, they're not going to attack me -- but there are little old ladies, there are migrants that come to this country that are easy targets for window washers, and we need to sort it out."

The TV show host Henry instead appealed to the public simply paying no money to window washers by discouraging them from offering the unwanted service. Endit