Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Thank you Mr Speaker. The Arms Act back in 1983 set out the regulatory requirements for the treatment of firearms and those in possession of those firearms. But what has occurred is demand for new firearm licences is currently outstripping the police's ability to process those applications and issue subsequent licences before the previous licence expires. This problem is expected to get worse given the high number of licenses that are due to expire shortly. This bill is an important step to make sure that the Act is amended to allow those firearm licence holders to continue to be in force where there is an application in train for a subsequent licence that has been made but cannot be processed in time for that expiry of the previous licence.I think it's important to note that the licensing cycle is a legacy of the 1992 change to the Act which terminated the lifelong holding of a licence. Instead of it being a lifetime licence and required for firearm owners to regularly reapply it was put into a 10-year period. No provision was made to stagger this approach which has resulted in the 10-year cycle of a sudden wave of renewals being required to be done. So this means the current demand for new firearms licence applications is currently outstripping police's capacity to process. Approximately at the moment there are 9000 applications in the pipeline at the low point of the demand cycle with approximately 2000 applicants holding an expired licence while waiting to be processed. Police anticipate that the demand for new licences is going to increase rapidly as they ramp up and that's why it's important to get this legislation passed in order to provide for those in the transitional space. It's unfortunate that no provision was made to stagger this approach which has resulted in peaks and troughs through the demand cycle. It's important to note that on top of the cyclical issue that I've already identified there are also additional pressures on police in order to process licences in a timely and well-considered manner. Firstly it's the finding of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques on March 15th—so those changes to licences in response to the royal commission including increased checks transferring responsibility of reporting information has also led to delays. Secondly constraints within the Act—the requirement for firearms licence holders to apply for replacement licences before their licence expires. Thirdly flow on from COVID-19 and the inability to process applications—and at this point it's important to note that this bill also makes minor technical amendments that enable for email or electronic communication to take place when previously they weren't in order to streamline that process. Also what's happened in that space the last point I'll mention is reduced vetting capability has had an impact which has resulted in a bottleneck.I'd like to conclude by acknowledging the firearms community and the concerns that they have about the impact of delays upon them. The firearms community has been understandably concerned about the impact on their lawful status in shooting activities if their licence expires prior to police deciding on their application for a new licence. These delays have had a direct impact on those who need licences for their work for their business and it has also placed those with collections of pistols prohibited firearms and restricted weapons in a position where they must continue to hold their collections unlawfully as an alternative storage arrangement may not always be readily available for them.It's also important to note in this space that the Act itself will be subject to a statutory review in 2026 2027.In conclusion I look forward to receiving submissions at the Justice Committee. I look forward to progressing this legislation as quickly as possible in order to make the transition to a new model that runs not on a cyclical basis more effective not only for firearms licence holders but for all New Zealanders who want to live in a community which is safe and protected and working under a safe space and also to enable those in the police service to be able to do their job as they're required to do. I commend it to the House.