Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Kia hora te marino kia whakapapa pounamu te moana aroha atu aroha mai tātou i a tātou tēnā tātou katoa.[May the calm be widespread may the sea lie flat like greenstone love and be loved all of us together greetings to all.]I rise again in remembrance and with deep sorrow for the victims of the terror attack against our Muslim community in Christchurch on 15 March. The weeks since that harrowing tragedy have been filled with grief and shock for our entire nation and for the affected communities. For our migrant our Muslim our refugee communities they have also been filled with very real fear. So it is a great comfort to see today that our Government is not only committed to standing with those victims and with the communities directly affected in their grief but also committed to making all the necessary hard changes that are needed to make New Zealand safe. To amplify the voices from within that community I want to note the words of Saeed Ahmed president of the Hawke's Bay Islamic centre who said just a couple of days after the terrorist attack Many of our brothers and sisters have been scared of more attacks happening but the sense of community of locals and Government action on gun law reform has put many of us at ease."We are all grieving for what we lost over the past weeks. Tighter gun laws honour the victims because our previous laws failed them. The cost of doing nothing has been too high. Too many people have been hurt and today we draw a line in the sand. Fixing our gun laws is just the beginning but it is an urgent and necessary first step one that was tragically overlooked though repeatedly recommended before now. This is the beginning of the change needed to make New Zealand a place where we all feel safe and truly at home.I want to acknowledge too that this change comes as a result of people power. Just a day or so after this tragedy Nik Green Brad Knewstubb and Hannah Clarke were all looking for what they could do to change things. They all separately started petitions to ban semi-automatic weapons and for stronger gun advertising laws. ActionStation got involved and within five days of the terror attack a petition of around 70000 signatures was presented on the steps of this House. New Zealanders want this change. They want it now and with that strong mandate we are making the change today. We don't need special interest lobby groups with big money influencing our nation's gun laws. People power is driving this legislation today.This bill is in the House just over two weeks since the terror attack. It will ban all military—well most military-style—semi-automatic firearms and modifications that make legal guns act like semi-automatics; essentially banning weapons that have no place in civil society weapons that allow massive harm. They maximise harm and they allow mass crimes like the terror attack that happened in Christchurch. This legislation creates new definitions of prohibited firearms magazines parts and ammunition. It will also establish an amnesty for firearms owners who take steps to hand over their firearms lawfully their parts their magazines their ammunition to the police by 30 September. Establishing an amnesty is the right thing to do. I call on all gun owners to re-evaluate their need for semi-automatic weapons and to hand in their weapons now or as part of the amnesty. Urgency in the House is appropriate on this to address the fears and the shock of the New Zealand public who didn't even know mostly that this kind of weapon this kind of military-style weapon for mass crime was actually out there on the streets.The Green Party has a longstanding policy to better regulate gun ownership in New Zealand. It is a privilege not a right. Our policy to ban all semi-automatics and reform gun laws to restrict violence is part of our founding charter principle of non-violence and our commitment to peace. The Green Party was formed from anti-war movements. Building a society for peace means taking action on guns. It means coming together and answering those lingering questions about violence this type of violence and why it took place in New Zealand today.I'm uplifted. I've been so uplifted over the past couple of weeks in seeing the difficult conversations that are taking place all over New Zealand. People are reflecting. People are reflecting on our violent history and colonisation on the rise of white supremacy here and around the world online. We're having those difficult conversations and people who might not have previously considered these uncomfortable truths are now joining the calls for a more peaceful and inclusive Aotearoa.We must address these issues by putting our guns away and talking with each other listening to our diverse communities who have been raising alarm bells for some time. Our culture must take steps to build peace to address the hate festering in pockets in our communities in a constructive manner. Taking action on gun control will benefit many New Zealanders from our migrant communities other minority communities at the receiving end of the hate to domestic violence victims and their families and let's not forget our record-breaking rates of domestic and gender-based violence. This will go some way towards keeping those victims safe as well.The first steps introduced today pave the way for further action which the Green Party looks forward to wholeheartedly supporting in gun law reform in restricting the way that licensing works in creating a register and we also look forward to the findings of the royal commission which will look more specifically at the environment at the response at the circumstances that led to this specific terror attack against the mosques in Christchurch. We need to look at all the things that we need to change to bravely shine a light on the pockets of hate and on all that we can do that's more in our laws including law enforcement our intelligence agencies on hate speech on hate crimes.In gun control we look forward to supporting future legislation that will introduce a gun registry which is long overdue. Today New Zealand is proudly joining the modern world in adopting much needed and appropriate gun control laws; so I commend the bill to the House."