Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. Well you know it's been an interesting night tonight. If there's one thing after being on the Justice Committee is that Simeon Brown talks a big game. But the truth is that no one takes him that seriously. The truth is that this bill is similar; it talks a big game but it doesn't deliver.Before I go into the deficiencies of this bill—and I've got a good table on the deficiencies of the bill even though we had a good crack at fixing it up at select committee—I'll sort of recap where the debate got out. In the first two speakers from the National Party give them their credit they came out Simon Bridges like a firecracker they actually had some formative argument. So between Simon Bridges and Chris Bishop the main element of their argument this evening was that this bill has taken too long—it's taken too long. From Chris Bishop we got a potted history of FPOs—or firearm prohibition orders—and he went through the different iterations the bill had been through. My memory goes back just a wee bit further than Chris Bishop's. My memory goes back to 2008 when the National Government launched their Gang Action Plan. Back then in 2008 lo and behold firearm prohibition orders were in there too.Along with that there were some other really interesting stuff in that action plan. Also in there was something called summer night lights". I remember that I think it was Anne Tolley who was the Minister of Police went on a bit of a tiki tour around the world and visited countries that had gang problems like Los Angeles (LA) or Melbourne to find out and do a bit of a stocktake on how we could address those problems here in New Zealand. My favourite was summer night lights. They went to LA and they saw that you know these bright and those big busy areas and dark parks that's where all the drug and the gang stuff was going on. They said "I know. We'll come back to New Zealand and we'll light up some places and do some festivals and stuff in the gang areas." So the problem is that they didn't figure out that if you go to Kaitāia and put up some night lights well people can go 2 kilometres up the road and you're in a paddock. So it didn't work that well. It didn't work here.But part of that stocktake was actually the truth of where firearm prohibition orders started and that was from Victoria and Melbourne that it was initially modelled on. So we talked a big game about those but they weren't delivered on. At that time you know part of the reason why it got held up for nine years under the last National Government was that there were huge internal tensions within the National caucus regarding this very issue firearm prohibition orders. I remember that absolute pearler that Paula Bennett came out with on The AM Show where she declared that some people had fewer human rights than other people. I remember that quite clearly. I remember Bill English he jumped in there quickly to fix that one up and he clarified that Bennett's mistake was in fact not National Party policy and he referenced—he did actually acknowledge—that New Zealand has a Human Rights Act and said that it was enshrined in New Zealand's law whew.So the truth is that National had nine years to pass firearm prohibition orders which was policy under the last Government and failed to do it. The main tenet of the argument tonight we are hearing from those members opposite is that we've not done it in four. So I think it is important that we stress that point.I could go on but I think we've got it. I think it's important that we get this right—I think it's important. Those comments around what were really causing issues under the last Government it's important we get it right here. That's what this Government is doing. We will get it right. That is why Simeon's bill doesn't do it.We had a really good look at it at select committee. We had a whole range of measures that we attempted to fix it up. But the reality was that it was munted. It was too broken to actually fix. The main problem with the bill first of all was that he forgot to include search powers in it. So that was kind of like if you're going to look for a gun you'd want to look for some search powers to be able to do that in the first place but unfortunately that wasn't included.So once we'd fixed up the part about referring to maybe search and surveillance or search powers we got onto the next main problem which is quite fundamental to the bill and that's why it is fundamentally flawed—that it only covers gang members with convictions. This is a big problem. You want to make it wider than just gang members with convictions because in the criminal world you do have clean skins. I'm sure Greg O'Connor will give you a great story about clean skins because he's got many stories like that. So people without a criminal record that still work as operatives within the gang underworld is where a lot of your arms trade and illicit arms trade is happening. So from the very start you're excluding some of those individuals that you want to include.It would also exclude others such as terrorists and other elements that we've seen in New Zealand that have a big problem with arms. So we would want to create a firearm prohibition regime that covers all of those areas and that's why this bill is fundamentally flawed. It needs to cover a broader range of offenders who pose a threat to our community not just gang members. It's important to say that this Government has a wider work programme on gangs. Our plan is focused on addressing those underlying causes of crime not taking a trip to LA to put some night lights up in Kaitāia. Firearm prohibition orders form part of that plan. They form part of a wider group of measures.Another really important part to say where FPOs will work is about some legislation that's already been passed. This is a really important point. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act introduces a new power to enable the seizure of assets of those associated with organised crime. So that's going to the real nut of where the money is and being able to target that. That's something that was again talked about by the previous National Government but never delivered upon. So by going for the cash hitting them in the pocket that has a far more significant impact upon long-term viable gang opportunities to make a criminal organisation viable by making it easier for police to identify an object that has obviously been ascertained by illicit activities and being able to take that. That is where you're actually going to see real long-term impact on gang activities; it's financial.But not to leave it there the reality is that this Government has never been more active in targeting the gangs and criminal leaders and getting them off the street. Let's look at what's been achieved in that four years. We've seen $450 million invested in our police service since we came into office. That has translated into 700 extra police staff. Those are focusing on absolutely looking at organised crime. As a result we've seen a total workforce of the police to 14000. That's a significant increase of extra officers. Over 1200 additional constabulary and authorised officers have been deployed on the streets since we came into office. Yes we have seen $500 million in cash and assets that has been taken off our streets. If you want to translate that into how it's done often in police is that's the equivalent of $1.6 billion removed from the illicit economy an economy that this Government is focused on shutting down. It will be doing that in far more broad sweeping and targeted ways than simply proposing to introduce a short stopgap measure like this bill does.Since coming into Government this Government has seen operations like Operation Tauwhiro which has been so successful with over $5.5 million in cash and assets and 940 people arrested. Also it was so successful that it's been extended for another six months. These are real efforts to target a complex problem which is organised criminal groups that operate in New Zealand. This is not a simple problem that will be fixed overnight. This is most definitely not a problem that will be resolved by a short-stop measure such as this member's bill that limits firearm prohibition orders to such a narrow group that it has limited scope to have real impact on the problem. We are focused on making sure New Zealand communities are safe. We will not let gangs destroy our communities. We will do that in a way that targets the underlying drivers of crime in New Zealand. There will be a bill in this House that has firearm prohibition orders and we will do it properly. Thank you."