Power Simon: Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill — Third Reading 
Power Simon: Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:658;Page:7098] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill be now read a third time 
. This bill will improve our ability to detect and deter money-laundering and terrorist financing which is vital to our fight against domestic and international organised and financial crime and terrorism. 
The proceeds of financially motivated crime—including drug-related crime property-related crime fraud and tax evasion—are significant. Local and international criminals have shown themselves to be willing to use our comparatively safe and stable financial sector to launder the proceeds of these activities. This legislation will improve our ability to investigate organised crime and to follow the money trail through financial systems. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: There is a lot of chatter in the Chamber from all sides of the House. The Minister is speaking. I would like some quiet please. I say to the member who is gesticulating to me that it is traditional for members not to have their backs to the Speaker. There must be respect for the Chair. 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: This bill goes hand in hand with the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act passed by the Government in April which will be used to attack those profits. 
The passage of the bill into law will help to maintain New Zealand’s international reputation and confidence in our financial trading system. Most of New Zealand’s financial trading partners have already implemented robust anti - money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism regimes. In a global economy countries and businesses are looking for stable safe economies with which to do business. The passage of this bill into law will demonstrate New Zealand’s commitment to assisting with what is an international problem. The legislation implements measures established by the Financial Action Task Force which is an inter-Governmental body that sets international standards for combating money-laundering and terrorist financing. 
The bill anticipates a significant amount of cooperation between industry and Government to ensure that the regime is responsive to risk and effective at detecting and deterring criminal activity. The bill as far as possible enables businesses to focus their resources on those customers or products that represent the most risk. However to achieve the bill’s aims financial service providers and casinos will need to ensure they have appropriate customer due diligence measures and that they can identify and report suspicious activity. The framework the bill establishes is appropriate to New Zealand’s financial system and is aligned with the frameworks of our trading partners particularly those of Australia. The bill establishes the Reserve Bank of New Zealand the Securities Commission and the Department of Internal Affairs as supervisors to support and maintain the new regime as it is phased in. 
I thank members of the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee in particular the committee’s chair and industry representatives for their valuable contribution to the development of this legislation. I commend this bill to the House.