McCallum GrantGRANT McCALLUM (National—Northland): It's a great privilege to rise to make the final contribution to this very important debate on the Immigration (Mass Arrivals) Amendment Bill in its third reading. We've heard some contributions tonight where members have highlighted that they've thought that it's unlikely to happen and yes it is unlikely. But it's really important that we are ready for that situation where desperate people—and we've only got to look around the world today—are in situations where they just feel they've got nothing to lose but to try and get in a rust bucket of some description and head towards a place like New Zealand.We need to be ready for them because they could turn up and it's highly likely if they do manage to come across the seas as our forebears did in various types of boats in the past and if they manage to come to this country they could easily end up in a place like Ninety Mile Beach which has been mentioned before in the great area of Northland. Then these people would be here and we'd have to look after them and make them feel welcome and treat them appropriately.It's really important to remember that what we're trying to do when they come here is to make sure that we can actually deal with them and so the increased time frames that we've allowed are really really important. It just allows the processes to flow through. It's absolutely vital that we do that because we don't want a situation where we've got people turning up here and we're not prepared legally to cope with it because that would just lead to all sorts of problems. That is not the sort of country we want them to come into.Now if they turn up here and we haven't got the legal right to detain them while we process them we assess their health and their mental health and we probably feed them because I suspect they would probably be short of food for the time they've come across the Tasman Sea—all those sorts of things have to be taken into consideration. It's really really important. It's for these reasons that we're passing this bill so that we are seen as a country that's ready to deal with these situations.As the bill has progressed through we've made some adjustments which have been well thought out. I commend the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for the work they did mainly in the previous Parliament obviously. The safeguards establish that we require an immigration officer to establish in making an application for a group warrant of commitment why the proposed detention is necessary. They've got to establish that the detention sought is for the least amount of time and is the least restriction necessary to achieve the outcomes—right? The proposed detention actually now meets the Government's obligations under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act which was something that was a concern for many. The proposed detention meets New Zealand's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and our other international obligations because we're a good citizen of the world and we want to be seen that way. That's very really important. It requires an immigration officer now to report to the court weekly unless that is varied by a judge during a period of warrantless detention of a mass arrival group.These are just pragmatic sensible changes—OK? It allows a judge to order the location specified in the application of group or warrant of commitment to be varied to allow for this to all work smoothly. It's really important that New Zealand fulfils its obligations to people that are so desperate to come here and can make them feel as welcome as we can and process them appropriately. It's really really important. I feel really proud to be part of a Government and part of a Parliament that is actually dealing with this properly. I'm disappointed that some parties have opposed this. It's very disappointing to see that the Green Party have decided to oppose it and I commend the Labour Opposition for their support on this bill. I commend my colleagues for their speeches and on that we'll leave it there. I'd like to now commend this bill to the House. Thank you Madam Speaker.