Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): I rise to speak on what's colloquially known as the safe zones bill. I want to acknowledge Louisa Wall for bringing this before the House on a difficult challenging issue. I have to say this has been personally a difficult and challenging issue. At the first reading I came into the House and I sat and listened to the speeches. I carefully read the proposed piece of legislation. I carefully read through the Attorney-General's report and there were key issues there that I found incredibly difficult to consider and find a position on. One is that if a woman has decided to make that incredibly difficult decision to go to an abortion clinic it is probably the hardest decision that they've ever made and probably will ever make. They deserve to not be impeded and to not have their emotional distress added to when going to that place. On the other hand I am a deep believer in freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is critical for freedom of thought which is critical for the foundation of our liberal democracy. There needs to be real protections in place for that and it's incredibly difficult with an issue like this to balance those needs.At the first reading I was not confident having looked at it that this balance would be able to be struck in the final legislation and I voted against it. I will be changing my vote today and voting in support of it and I want to outline why. There have been some amendments to clause 4 of the legislation and premises in relation to abortion services have been defined now in subclause (2) as (a) the building in which the abortion services are provided; and (b) the land on which that building is sited". Under section 13C "Regulations: safe areas" in clause 5 "(1) The Governor-General may by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister of Health after consultation with the Minister of Justice make regulations for the purposes of section 13A prescribing as a safe area—(a) any specified premises at which abortion services are provided;"—i.e. the building and the property on which it is sited—"and (b) an area around those premises that is an area having a boundary of not more than 150 metres from the perimeter of the premises."There is concern that needs to be addressed about whether someone in their own home within that 150 metres could then be prohibited. However that is dealt with under section 13A(1)(c) in clause 4 which says that a person must not engage in certain behaviour in prohibited areas "in a manner that could be easily seen by another person … who may be accessing … abortion services:". So if someone is in their own home expressing their opinion or discussing in a safe area they obviously can't be easily seen or heard by another person out on the street. So that addresses that concern for me and preserves freedom of speech in a balanced way in my view in a free and democratic society.I also note that there is two-stage process to this in that in section 13B in clause 4 a constable will not arrest someone in a safe zone without firstly requiring the person to stop engaging in the prohibited behaviour. So a warning will first be given. If the person continues to engage in that prohibited behaviour the person may then be arrested and be liable upon conviction to a fine for that behaviour. In my view this has struck the right balance now between like I say the women—who have to make probably one of the hardest decisions of their lives in an incredibly emotionally fragile state in many cases when they are going to those clinics—and the need for people who have very strong views that they are entitled to express entitled to hold and entitled to the right to protest but not in an area around these zones. I think it has been done in a very sensible and balanced way and I want to congratulate Louisa Wall and members of the Health Committee who have done that and also the contribution from the Attorney-General in helping guide this conversation. Certainly it has been of great assistance to me and I'm happy now to commend this bill to the House."