Hipkins Chris; O'Connor GregARMS (LICENCE HOLDERS' APPLICATIONS FOR NEW LICENCES) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Police): I present a legislative statement on the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I move That the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 17 November 2022 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.This is a classic case of where sometimes laws passed by this Parliament can have a very very long tail in terms of the effects that they have. Back in 1992 the House made the decision to move from lifetime firearms licences to 10-year firearms licences. The result of that is that every 10 years we have seen a surge or a peak in the number of firearms licence holders applying to have their gun licences renewed. That's always been a challenge. It's always resulted in police having to significantly increase the resources to process those applications.That challenge though has been compounded by changes to the licence process in response to the findings of the royal commission of inquiry and that's included transferring responsibility for recording information to the applicant and referees. That's led to further delays through more incomplete applications sometimes due to the applicant or the referees not fulfilling their obligations.There is also of course the issue that many licence holders don't apply for their licence to be renewed until relatively close to when it expires. And we did see evidence back in 1992 that whilst there was a reasonable period of time allowed for people to apply for their licences to be renewed many didn't do so until relatively late in that period of time and that does create a significant peak in applications every 10 years. So one way or the other we have to accept that we are going to see quite a significant peak in licence applications and that is going to create uncertainty for licence holders because at the moment even if someone applies for their licence to be renewed before it's expired unless that licence is processed very very quickly they will find themselves in a position where they are unlawfully still in possession of firearms.Now that's an unacceptable situation because it will generally be through no fault of their own—they've done the right thing they have been legal they have held their firearms they've held a firearms licence and they have applied for the licence to be renewed. This law change is relatively simple. It means that if someone has applied for their licence to be renewed—even once their licence has expired—as long as there is an application in the process then their expired licence will continue to be valid. That will mean that they don't have to transfer their firearms into the possession of someone else because their licence has expired and they are in no position to do anything about that. There are a couple of other very minor changes that this bill makes. It ensures that the new licence will be valid from the point in which it is issued not from the point in which the last licence expired. That will help us to smooth out the curve and it will mean that hopefully over this next licence renewal period we will be able to smooth that out so we won't continue to have these peaks every 10 years in the way that we have previously. I think that that will be a welcome thing.Similarly we've made a change to the renewal of licences for dealers so that they will also come into effect from the date in which they are issued rather than the date that the previous licence expired. And there is a further minor change to allow for more of this process around notices to be transacted electronically basically bringing this law into the 21st century. I note that the Arms Act itself in total will be reviewed in 2026-27. So that is an opportunity for people to raise any further issues around these matters as they choose to do so by which point we should be through the peak of licence application renewals.I want to at this point thank the firearms licence or gun-owning community for their perseverance and their patience with this. I accept that many have been operating in good faith. In fact the vast majority have been operating in good faith to ensure that they comply with the legal requirements that are placed on them. Where their licences have expired it has been through no fault of their own. This law change will give them certainty.I want to thank the members across the House who have advocated for this change. I think there's probably some lessons for the House—dating right the way back to 1992 when the law change was first made—about how these sorts of changes could be made in a smoother way to avoid these kind of peaks in the future. I'm very pleased that we've found a solution that will be an enduring solution and that should avoid these sorts of peaks emerging again in the future and therefore should mean that we can get firearms licence renewal applications on to a much more timely footing.Finally I want to provide reassurance for those who have been waiting some time for their licences to be renewed: the police have put significant extra resource into clearing the backlog of firearms licence renewal applications. They are making good progress there. I continue to get regular reports from them on that. I'll continue to monitor that closely to see if we can get that backlog cleared as quickly as we can. This law change will actually help in clearing the backlog because it will mean that police can make sensible decisions about triaging licence renewal applications and therefore try to get people a more timely response.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.