SpeechIBRAHIM OMER (Labour) (remote): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's an absolute pleasure to rise in support of this bill the Russia Sanctions Bill. I also thank the Minister the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for the excellent work on bringing this bill to the House.This is an unprecedented bill introduced under urgency to deal with unprecedented circumstances. Russia's attack on Ukraine is unprovoked aggression; therefore it's against the values we rely on for our own peace security democracy human rights and the international rules-based system. The war on Ukraine is not a Russian war. I do believe it's wrong to characterise it as such. Perhaps that's what Putin and his friends want us to believe: that Russia is in a war against Ukraine. We need to call it what it is. It's a war that's been carefully designed planned and is being waged by Putin and his powerful friends around him. In fact the brave people of Russia are rejecting this war and we've seen demonstrations on the streets of Moscow and other cities saying no to war and we have seen how Putin and his security apparatus has responded by crushing them. It's a personal war for Putin because Putin is seeking glory and he wants to be a Caesar of the new Russia or perhaps even bring back the glory days of the USSR era time. And nothing will stop him unless we do.We've heard a lot of concerns about this bill coming late to this House. I'd like to push back on that like my friends did as well. I think the Government and the Minister did a fantastic job in bringing this bill in a record time in fact. I think other parts of the international community—what we are doing his here is right. The timing is right. We just need to keep doing what we're doing.I just want to spend my last minute talking about the war and its victims. We have seen on TV screens that already thousands of civilians have died by Putin's army's indiscriminate bombardment of cities and civilian targets. Two million have already become refugees and are fleeing to neighbouring countries. Amid all this chaos and the sadness it's heart-warming to see the international community coming together to push back on Putin. I know that Putin is now regretting his actions. He's being hit hard by sanctions and this is probably going to let the Russian people stand up to him. Even his oligarch friends might turn against him as well. The international community needs to keep the pace and we must keep punishing Putin until he backs away from this madness.At the end I want to also acknowledge the brave people of Ukraine and the way they are fighting their fighting spirit against evil and I know that Putin and his friends underestimated the brave people of Ukraine. I commend their bravery and their fight against evil. At the end I want to acknowledge our Ukrainian community here in New Zealand. Like many other MPs I've been getting a lot of emails and messages from them. Tonight we're telling them that we're standing with you side by side. We're standing with you in your fight for democracy. We're standing with your people with your Government and you are not alone. Tonight this bill if we can pass it tonight—this bill is a good bill. As a part of the international community we are doing our part and more. We just need to keep doing what we're doing. This bill is a good bill. It's a good night. I commend it to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): Our next call is a five-minute call—the Hon Mark Mitchell