Quinn Paul: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Quinn Paul: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:14047] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 I do not intend to take a long call on the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill because most of it has now been covered. In a bill that is 30 pages long where half of the pages cover definitions there is really not much more to canvass. This is particularly so given that our friends on the Labour Opposition benches are supporting the bill. I have not been here for the whole of the debate but from the tenor of what I have picked up everyone is in unanimity in respect of supporting this bill which is good because we have had a couple of good days in terms of everyone holding hands. 
I guess that my friend Mr O’Connor who has just resumed his seat could not quite bring himself to share the full love so he had to find something wrong with the bill. He talked about a tax. Just to demonstrate that I have read the bill I tell members that he is referring to new section 128A “Imposition of penalty” which is to be inserted in the Customs and Excise Act by clause 13. I ask whether that is correct. Mr O’Connor said that he used to tremble in his boots when he was a young lad an adolescent returning from the occasional trip to Australia—he was probably bringing in cigarettes—at the thought of what the Customs Service might charge him for not having disclosed correctly the purchase price of the product that he was bringing in. Well all I can say is: more fool him. This system relies on honesty. I never had that fear. I never had that fear on the very few occasions when I could afford to travel to Australia. I never had that problem because I could not afford to bring back too much anyway. I did not smoke and I was not the right age for alcohol so there was the odd baseball cap and that was about it. I never had to concern myself with the imposition of a penalty. 
This relates to the fact that if we are going to buy things overseas then yes there is a limit. After all we want our domestic retailers to be able to survive. We should be buying in New Zealand. I think that Labour Opposition members supported that. Once upon a time Labour supported the Buy New Zealand Made campaign. Members on this side of the House do not think it is unreasonable to say yes people can bring in a certain level of goods but after that we think that they should pay an excise penalty particularly when they have been not quite up front with the prices. I just thought I would respond to that aspect of Mr O’Connor’s contribution to the debate. I think he would have to finally admit to himself that it is an excellent bill. 
The bill should have been introduced years ago but it has taken until this Government has come into power to understand the use of efficiencies. In fact the sharing of information is exactly the sort of thing that can achieve efficiencies and improve front-line servicing for our visitors. That is what this bill is about. With those few words—as I promised I would take just a short call—I commend the bill to the House.