Prime Willow-Jean; O'Connor GregCOUNTER-TERRORISM ACTS (DESIGNATIONS AND CONTROL ORDERS) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Minister of Conservation) on behalf of the Minister of Justice: I present a legislative statement on the Counter-Terrorism Acts (Designations and Control Orders) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: I move That the Counter-Terrorism Acts (Designations and Control Orders) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.In recent years we have seen the evolving nature of terrorism become a serious threat on our shores. Four years on from the terror attack on the Christchurch masjidain and two years since the LynnMall supermarket attack I want to acknowledge the enduring harm of terror attacks on victims and the wider community; we owe it to them to do everything we can to protect our communities from terrorism.We are continuing to assess and update our counter-terrorism legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose; this bill is a step towards that objective. The Government is committed to continuing to respond to the royal commission of inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack who recommended reviewing all of our counter-terrorism legislation. There has been significant ongoing work by the Government since the March 15 attacks to make New Zealand safer and more inclusive.Some recommendations to the royal commission's report have been addressed in the short term while others have taken more consideration. This includes the initial ban of all military style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles and the establishment of a dedicated firearms unit within police to take over firearms regulatory activities.It also includes the establishment of the Christchurch Call; the Ministry for Ethnic Communities; the Ethnic Communities Graduate Programme; He Whenua Taurika New Zealand's Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism; He Whenua Taurika's annual hui; and He Whenua Taurika scholarships as well as delivering ongoing support and establishment of the Collective Impact Board.Also under way is the development of a response outcome framework to monitor the ongoing response to the royal commission of inquiry. This will include identifying goals ways to measure our success and the sorts of data we need to monitor to ensure we are on track. Significant assistance has been provided to the most affected including the families who were living in New Zealand at the time of the attack.Today's bill makes amendments to two counter-terrorism measures: the designation scheme and the control orders regime. These amendments will ensure operational agencies have the right tools to better prevent and respond to terror attacks to individuals who present a risk of committing such attacks.Designation: I will start by discussing the changes we are making to the designations regime. The Prime Minister has the power to designate entities and individuals as terrorists which freezes their assets and makes it a criminal offence to support them. Normally these expire every three years after which the Prime Minister would need to review the designation again to see if the entity still poses a terrorist threat. But if a terrorist is already in prison how can we determine if they still pose a threat? This presents difficulties as being in prison puts many restrictions on an individual that make it hard to determine whether they still pose a terrorist threat. This bill will address that issue. By pausing the expiry of the terrorist designation when an individual is in prison we can ensure that the designation will not be revoked while an individual continues to pose a risk. This will prevent imprisoned terrorists from using their funds to support and finance terrorism.While paused the designation will still be reviewed every three years to ensure it is removed if it is no longer necessary. These amendments to the designation regime will ensure our legislative settings are clear while also protecting the rights and freedoms of designated individuals.Control orders: I now turn to the second part of the bill which makes targeted changes to strengthen and improve the control orders regime. Control orders are civil orders made in the High Court on application by the Commissioner of Police. A control order imposes restrictions on high-risk individuals in the community to prevent them from engaging in further terrorism-related activities. As I have mentioned the nature of terrorism is evolving. The bill therefore makes several targeted changes to reflect this as well as incorporating some of the lessons learnt from the making of New Zealand's first control orders. The bill broadens the range of precursor offences with a link to terrorism that would make someone eligible for a control order. This responds to concerns about individuals who are coming to the attention of the police presenting a wide range of concerning behaviour. The bill also extends the eligibility threshold for a control order to include people sentenced to home detention or a community-based sentence for a specified offence and it enables the concurrence of control orders and post-sentence conditions. The bill also ensures that control order conditions can account for the specific circumstances of each individual by giving judges greater discretion when setting these requirements. To balance the need to protect an individual's privacy while allowing for public reassurance that appropriate action is being taken in respect of individuals who present a terrorism risk the bill adjusts the current automatic name suppression requirement.Lastly the bill clarifies the protocols for the management of electronic monitoring requirements to ensure that individuals subject to electronic monitoring as part of a control order condition will be appropriately and effectively managed. It is important to note here that while the eligibility criteria is being expanded to a wider range of high-risk individuals there are several safeguards in the legislation to ensure a control order can only be granted when necessary and where the limitation on the individual is proportionate to the public safety risk. I acknowledge that this bill will not end the debate about the way we define and approach terrorism in Aotearoa. Ultimately this Government believes that these amendments are necessary to ensure operational agencies are equipped with the most appropriate tools to respond to the changing nature of terrorism. In conclusion I'd like to once again thank my colleagues for their support on these important amendments. I appreciate the collaborative approach this House takes to matters of national security and public safety. I would also like to thank the Justice Committee and all those who submitted on the bill. You have ensured that the bill we will pass today strikes the right balance between protecting individual rights and keeping Aotearoa safe from terrorism. I commend this bill to the House. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.