McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of the ACT Party in support of this Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Amendment Bill through its first reading and to select committee stage. We support this in the first instance but we do have a few questions about it. The first one of course is: why did it take so long? In May 2021 it was first announced that this bill was a-comin'. That was 16 months ago. Now that it's landed the regulatory impact statement has only just been made available. In fact I've just been able to pick it up off the Table there. And in actual fact if you go on to the Parliament website the bill is still not available for reading. So 16 months. I have to ask: what has been happening? The disclosure statement and the regulatory impact statement indicate that while Māori have been identified as those that are going to be disproportionately affected by this legislation no one has consulted with them. It's all been in-house Government agency analysis instead. And why is that? Because the time frames did not allow for consultation outside of those Government agencies. Sixteen months—16 months ago we were told that this was on its way and yet there wasn't enough time for the appropriate consultation including not enough time for the officials to look at any alternative options to put forward as well. This Government had introduced firearm prohibition orders earlier this year which we supported in its efforts to prevent the illegal possession of firearms. But this bill is a failure when it comes to addressing the financial consequences for that illegal possession of firearms. In September 2021 when my bill was drawn—also a criminal proceeds recovery bill—it was to raise the threshold to be able to freeze and seize assets upon finding an illegally held firearm. Government told the public that they would sort it out and they think they've done this with the firearms prohibition orders. But what I'd like to say is that when gun crime is going up in our communities by 47 percent making sure that there is a consequence to that illegal position should also be mandated—and can be—within this legislation. Auckland homes especially are becoming riddled with gunshot wounds and we can do a lot more in that space.What do police find when they do raid an organised criminal facility? They tell us all the time; it's cash it's drugs and it's firearms. Instead of supporting a bill that gave consequence to illegal possession the Government ignored it. You had a chance then and you have another one now and I look forward to be able to raise this issue at select committee to see if we can improve the bill and therefore the safety of and to our communities from illegal gun crime. Consequences have been missing from Labour's attempt at crime control and the gangs have taken full advantage of it. But this is a step in the right direction and we do acknowledge what the Government is trying to achieve because to truly hit the gangs where it hurts—which is in their pockets—is to delve into the areas where police can apply to the courts to force civil asset seizure from those profiting from criminal activity and those that use the ill-gotten gains as well—this includes being able to break into people's KiwiSaver accounts and seize funds.ACT understands and supports on the face of it the reasoning behind this. People topping up their KiwiSaver and knowing that it cannot be touched is the reason why. But I'd like to go through the select committee process to flesh this out a little bit more just to ensure that it's only the ill-gotten gains that become confiscated and not actual hard-earned savings. I do note that my colleagues from the National Party talked about gang members possibly not having KiwiSaver accounts and I do agree that that's probably the situation. But there are others that can be brought into this regime and I would like to ensure that their legitimate savings are kept safe. This bill also allows the High Court to make a disclosure of source order for those that reside overseas with property here in New Zealand—property thought to be tainted property or derived from significant criminal activity. It means that they'll have up to two months to provide information as to how the property was acquired or risk losing it. This is an interesting concept that we're looking forward to hearing more about from officials at the select committee. And this bill also introduces type 1 and type 2 asset forfeitures. Type 1 is a standard forfeiture where the thresholds have been met and the forfeiture is whole. Type 2 is where an associate of a criminal organised group has property they cannot explain. In that case a restraining order can be made if the respondent was an associate of an organised criminal group when they acquired that property; if they have been involved in or benefited from significant criminal activity at any time; if police can show the respondent could not have afforded the property before they acquired it; and if the market value of seized assets meets the $30000 threshold. And this is where I believe the KiwiSaver clause has relevance as the $30000 threshold does not need to be met here in an entirety. A value of it is added to the $30k threshold. However I would like clarity on that when we get to the select committee process. I also note concerns raised by those that will be affected by this legislation including gang members who are concerned that their family members and friends could be inadvertently caught up in this legislation. My message to them: stop involving your family and your friends in your criminal activities and they won't have anything to worry about. The reality is that crime in New Zealand is becoming more vicious more violent and definitely serious with complete disregard to our communities. A 47 percent increase in gun crime alone means the ability to apply to freeze and then seize assets based on that illegal position should be considered as a way to beef up this bill and give it extra teeth. A harder approach is well overdue and needed. We look forward to this bill going to select committee and hearing from the submitters. These changes to legislation will have the potential to have quite an effect on organised crime and where its proceeds end up. We welcome these conversations and support this bill through to its first reading.