Brown Peter: Maritime Security Bill — First Reading 
Brown Peter: Maritime Security Bill — First Reading 
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PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I do compliment that member. At least he tried to stick to a significant degree to the bill. I do not think that the National Party member even touched on it until the end. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Yes he did. 
PETER BROWN 
: Oh he did. He said that he did not know the costs—which are included in the explanatory note. Maritime port security is essential. We live in a volatile world and we have to address that potential problem. It is potentially a huge problem and it is a huge task we are asking of our people—our security people our port companies and our administrators. This is no easy task. I talk as a man who has some background in port operations where we had to have minor levels of security. This is a biggie and it will cost some money. I am not prepared to stand here and give a blank cheque but I ask the House: what price security? What price the ability to trade with other nations? We know the Americans will come down pretty damn hard on this and we have to be up with the play. 
National when it was the Government put in place systems and structures to dispense with our merchant fleet. Labour finished that off. Effectively we have no merchant fleet running internationally. Labour finished it off. Despite the shipping industry review that the previous Minister commissioned nothing has been done about looking at New Zealand’s shipping. So this bill will deal very largely with foreign shipping. It will deal with foreign owners foreign masters and foreign crews. Some will have a stronger commitment to New Zealand than others. Some will not give a damn. Why should they? They come here bring their cargoes and take our exports away. Why should they worry about security in this country? Our administrators will have to overcome that for a start. They will have to deal with shipping agents in this country who will be under pressure to get the ships out to make ships comply and to make the structure comply. Those guys will not be too happy about having extra obligations put on them. However I know many of them very well and no doubt they will apply themselves diligently and address the issues that they have to. 
The designated organisation in charge of security procedures will I think be the Maritime Safety Authority—although I cannot see it in the bill. The authority will have to deal with stevedoring companies to ensure that they comply toe the line and do everything properly. It will have to deal with the watersiders. All those people will probably have to carry some sort of identity disc so that they can go through the ports clearly recognised and accepted as people who are meant to be there and have business on the wharves of any particular port. 
 But who else will they have to deal with? They will have to deal with the sex workers. They will have to deal with the pimps and the prostitutes who earn their living—Tim Barnett is nodding in agreement. Those people will go down to the ships on legitimate business now and sell their wares. Some of those people are employed by gangs and by people of an unscrupulous background—I was going to use a stronger word. Port companies and the security staff will have to monitor that and I have no doubt that in time they will have to issue them with identity cards. Sex workers will go down to certain ports with ID cards. [ 
Interruption 
] They cannot be checked by the police but I say to Mr Shirley they will be checked by the Maritime Safety Authority. How is that! The Maritime Safety Authority will no doubt keep a register of port sex workers and if anybody thinks this is a light-hearted joke let me tell them that it is not. If somebody wanted to do some real damage in this country it would be very very easy. It could be easily done by using the services of what we might call “non-essential shipping people who provide services to ships.” It would be very easily done. I do not envy the task of whoever will administer this. 
There are concerns about costs in this bill. They are not identified at all. I listened to Larry Baldock as he read from the bill but all the figures are ballpark figures and could be quite inaccurate and the explanatory note of the bill says as much on how the costing was reached. The costs could in certain places and at certain times be quite horrendous. The restrictions could be quite difficult and quite frustrating for people who want to go about their legitimate business. But we live in a volatile world. We live in a world where I think the time is coming when terrorists will target the easiest target. We do not want to be the easiest target down here. We are fairly slack now about who we let into this country how they get here what they are allowed to do when they get here and the freedom they have. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh the member disagrees with me? 
David Benson-Pope 
: Perfect illustration of the problem. 
PETER BROWN 
: I am a perfect illustration of the problem am I? I have to say to that member that when I came here I was subject to some very stringent medical checks. 
David Benson-Pope 
: The way some of the back-benchers stand up and slag off immigrants is just appalling. 
PETER BROWN 
: I am not necessarily slagging off immigrants. For that member’s information I am talking about people who get into this country in a number of ways and certainly people come into this country on ships—those people are unofficially here. It is very very easily done. That member clearly knows nothing about this bill and nothing about the size of the problem. This is a serious problem. But there is one thing that the Government has got going for it. It has a good Minister in charge of this bill—Harry Duynhoven. He is very thorough and unlike that member he is very diligent and I know he will lift every stone to see what worms come out from underneath. 
David Benson-Pope 
: They will mostly be members of New Zealand First. 
PETER BROWN 
: We do not come out from the stones my friend. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I am surprised you let go that comment from the senior Labour whip David Benson-Pope. That is totally unacceptable in this House. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I ask the member to stand and withdraw the comment. 
David Benson-Pope 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
PETER BROWN 
: For the record I take no offence at that sort of garbage. I have been trained properly by watersiders and seafarers. I know the real problems in this world. I certainly know the problems when it comes to working on the wharves and I know the difficulties that there will be in implementing this bill. There will be absolute support from us for this bill going through to the select committee but as the National member said we will not allow blank cheques—that was one little piece of information that Wayne Mapp divulged about the National Party’s philosophy. We will look at this very thoroughly but at the end of the day we want an Act that is very sound and does its job. There is no use in having a Maritime Security Act that is so fraught with holes and flaws that we can drive a bus through it. So the bill has to be scrutinised very carefully. 
This bill will add a lot of pressure to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee because that select committee already has a huge number of bills to deal with but thankfully it has some good members on it. John Key is nodding and I am there so between the two of us we will sort this out. I would like to see Harry Duynhoven back on that committee. He made a very very worthwhile contribution as far as the Government members are concerned and I know he has a very strong interest in this bill. I do not know whether it is allowed but maybe I will recommend that the Government seek to put Harry Duynhoven on the select committee for the purposes of this bill. 
I want to make it quite clear that New Zealand First supports this bill. We do not necessarily agree with everything in it. We have concerns about the cost. We know the difficulties that will be faced by the administrators when it comes to pass but we know it is absolutely essential to have legislation like this. We support its referral to the select committee 100 percent and we will give it our best shot there.