Yates Dianne: Customs and Excise Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
Yates Dianne: Customs and Excise Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
[Volume:637;Page:7801] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the third reading of the Customs and Excise Amendment Bill (No 2). I thank Mr Ardern and the National Party for their support of this bill. I am pleased that over the several readings of the bill the Opposition spokesperson on customs has actually become more informed about the bill and the content of it. Mr Ardern has noted the growth in trade under a Labour Government and I am pleased he has acknowledged that along with the growth in tourism. As he has discussed the cruise ships coming into Auckland he will also have noted that the media particularly took notice of the way that the Customs Service speedily dealt with people on those ships. He will also have noted that new recruits are channelled towards Auckland as part of their training because of the greater bulk of work that comes through there. 
While we are dealing with the third reading of this bill I praise in particular the Minister of Customs the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for the work that she has done and also the New Zealand Customs Service. In previous readings both sides of the House have praised the Customs Service for the work it does on our borders protecting us. I said before this is not about party politics; this is about “New Zealand Limited”. The Customs Service has had some very successful hits on drug imports into New Zealand as well as on an amazing variety of things such as detecting false qualifications false stamps and false passports coming into New Zealand. For a small country I think the Customs Service staff do an exceedingly good job. 
Some of us as members of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee were very impressed when we looked at the work that the Customs Service did at the Auckland airport and the sea port. We were also very impressed that even the poor old dogs work very hard walking up and down all day trying to detect drugs. We have a very effective Customs Service in New Zealand—perhaps one of the most effective of our services in New Zealand. It does an excellent job. This bill is about making sure that Customs Service staff have the power to do what their job is—that they have the time to apprehend people. 
I note that Mr Shane Ardern who is the National spokesperson on customs came on board a little more and that he understands what the excise provision in the bill is about. I am pleased that obviously Mr John Hayes of the National Party explained it to him at the Committee stage of the bill. I thank Mr Hayes for his contribution in the Committee and his contribution to the debate. I also thank Tim Groser for his contribution. 
What is really sad is that those two very effective people are on our Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee and as people would have noticed in the media neither is included in John Key’s thinktank on foreign affairs. I think that is rather disappointing. They are very competent and experienced people—as we have seen in the House—who know about these areas but neither of them is the spokesperson on what they know about nor are they members of the National Party thinktank. The leader of the National Party is not utilising his own team and I think that is probably typical of what we have in the National Party at the moment. We noticed that Mr Ardern repeated his error on two readings of the bill but I am glad that Mr Hayes has actually put him right on those particular issues. 
Shane Ardern 
: It’s more taxes going up and up. 
DIANNE YATES 
: It is no more taxes. What has happened is a rationalising around the date of the collection of the excise tax. [ 
Interruption 
] I am sorry that Mr Ardern did not take up his full time in this debate and is constantly heckling from the other side of the Chamber. I remind Mr Ardern that he did have 10 minutes to make his points and there is no point in his shouting now about matters he could have spoken about during the debate. 
Once again I thank all those who have been involved in this bill. I also point out as we have said the work of the Custom Service staff and its excellent chief executive officer—as Customs Service officers and on this bill in particular. I thank the submitters on the bill—particularly the New Zealand Law Society which pointed out some amendments that would make the bill more workable. 
As I have said I thank the select committee members who worked very well with the officials to work out whether periods of detainment were long enough. It was not just about the amount of time to process; it was also about the geographical distances that staff might have to travel in order to apprehend people. As we in New Zealand know the coast of New Zealand is around the same size as the eastern seaboard of the United States. It is extremely difficult to protect. We were very concerned when working through this bill whether Customs Service people would have the time in the 4-hour detention period provided for in the bill to actually travel wherever they needed to go. 
As has been noted there were issues around cellphones and their use at the point of entry. We have had experience of people being able to phone ahead about nefarious acts. That prohibition on the use of cellphones is a very good measure contained within the bill. 
Once again I thank the select committee members. I thank the Minister the staff the select committee staff and everybody who has worked on a bill that is basically a technical bill that keeps New Zealand up to date and our borders and country safe. I am pleased that the bill is going to proceed and thank the Opposition for its support.