Davidson Marama; Borrows ChesterMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): E Te Māngai o Te Whare Tuarua tēnā koe ā ka huri au ki tēnei Whare tēnā tātou katoa! Ka tū au mō Ngā Kākāriki ki te kōrero i te pānuitanga tuatahi o tēnei Te Pire Maritime Crimes Amendment ā nō reira hei māngai mō ngā take tika tangata.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and now I turn to this House acknowledgments to us all! I stand on behalf of the Greens to speak in the first reading of this Maritime Crimes Amendment Bill and therefore as spokesperson on matters pertaining to human rights.]I stand as the spokesperson for human rights for the Green Party to support this bill to the select committee stage. I wanted to talk particularly about the human rights balance in light of all counter-terrorism laws and particularly in light of our international human rights reputation thus far. As my colleague Dr Kennedy Graham has pointed out we have noted some concerns in the impediment of dissent but I will actually go through—I understand that at this stage the bill is actually focused on actions of groups rather than on designations so I wanted to make that point. This bill is potentially to put in place New Zealand's obligations under the protocols of 2005 which are essentially maritime counter-terrorism treaties—essentially our international obligations. So as mentioned I can see through the first reading of this bill that they are focused on several important human rights freedoms particularly the rights to life and safety. I do agree that at this point the bill is primarily to protect people's lives and their feelings of safety. It appears under section 4A(1)—as my colleague has pointed out but I want to repeat—that it could potentially impact on actions of direct action such as environmental groups but I am satisfied that both the actions would have to have been seen to cause harm and have been put in a particular category that I believe at this stage would not impact on just ordinary dissent. So I too am pleased to support the bill going to the select committee for that reason. What Te Rōpū Kākāriki will be keeping an ear out for in submissions is to make sure that the balancing act of upholding the various human rights—such as freedom of thought and conscience and freedom of association and expression—is indeed strong. We want to make sure that we have strong counter-terrorism legislation but we also want to make sure that we are mindful of groups not being tagged too easily with this legislation for simply upholding other human rights freedoms. We also want to uphold freedom of privacy freedom against torture and freedom against being arbitrarily detained and/or arrested. So I just simply wanted to stand and put to the House that Te Rōpū Kākāriki will be listening out for our balancing act of upholding the particular freedoms that are involved in this legislation. Again New Zealand's international human rights reputation is one to be protected and admired at this point. I particularly as the human rights spokesperson will be keeping a keen eye and ear on how this bill develops in light of a common-sense balance in upholding all of the different human rights aspects. Thank you very much.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: A 5-minute call on behalf of the Labour Party—Rino Tirikatene.