Collins JudithHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition): Thank you Madam Speaker. Well thank you to the Minister of Justice for his contribution. This is a bill that the National Party supports. Our members on the Justice Committee led by the Hon Simon Bridges have worked very hard to make sure that the bill has a good balance between the rights of those who might be accused and the rights of New Zealanders not to be subject to terrorist attacks. Until really 18 months ago New Zealand had not seen terrorist attacks although there is an arguable point that there had been certainly some occasions where terrorist attacks may have been planned. But what we now know is that there are around 300 people who give concern to security agencies around their wish to do damage to New Zealand or New Zealanders or those who are our allies and they are living in New Zealand. We know that there is a significantly smaller number that give serious concern.If we need changes to terrorism legislation it certainly is now. We can be reminded of the fact that there were seven people injured—four stabbed—by the terrorist attacker in New Lynn a few weeks ago. The National Party would like to express our sympathy for those victims who were going about their weekly shopping and suddenly were attacked by someone with a very strong hatred towards apparently white people. I would also like to express our sincere thanks to those police officers on the scene whose swift action was able to prevent this from being an even worse tragedy than it already is.This person was clearly operating as far as we know as a lone wolf. But he is not the only lone wolf out there. After the horrors at the Al Noor Mosque the Linwood Islamic Centre and now New Lynn it is very clear that we need as a Parliament to move swiftly to plug the gaps in our counter-terrorism law by passing this bill.I understand that there is concern—very deeply held and genuinely held concern—that this is essentially criminalising people who plan a criminal offence. While we have that already in law when it comes to conspiracies as in more than one person planning it the law has not previously criminalised a lone person planning an attack like this. The problem is that now that there is communication via the internet and other means and social media it is very important that we recognise that things are not the same as they were 10 20 or even 30 years ago. Things have changed. In the last 18 months we've had two terror attacks on our shores here in New Zealand and there has not been a terror attack before so things have definitely changed.It is important that we support the Government in this move. After we knew of what had happened on 3 September I contacted the Prime Minister after speaking with my colleagues who agreed that we should support the Government because our select committee members were happy with the process and the work that had gone into the bill. Not everybody will be but it is important that we do this. When we were in Government last we would have loved to have had the sort of support that we are now giving and that is because we believe very clearly that this is a very real threat to New Zealand a very real threat to our way of life. We do not need any more instances like this for us to take this seriously. This is a very serious matter.I have reviewed obviously the work of the royal commission into the massacre in Christchurch of 18 months ago. The royal commission was very clear that we need to have a separate counter-terrorism agency. We haven't heard from the Government as to what progress if any has to be made on that. We have agencies involved in intelligence we have agencies such as Police that are involved in law enforcement and we have other agencies such as the Department of Corrections who have input into this. But when I come to the terrorist in New Lynn Samsudeen it is a question that needs to be asked as to why he had the Crown not opposing his bail and in fact being party to an application to bail for him before this incident happened. So these are questions that I have asked the Prime Minister to hold a public inquiry on. This does not meet the threshold for a royal commission such as the Christchurch massacres but this does need to have questions asked and answered.It is also important to note that no legal advice has been provided as to why Samsudeen could not have been deported back to his country of origin. We've heard advice from the Prime Minister that Cabinet sought advice and was disappointed to find out that he could not be. But having reviewed the Immigration Act and also the United Nations convention on refugees it is clear that where there is a threat to national security someone can be deported back.The other issue has to be around what is the definition of a threat to national security. This is something that I believe needs to be considered by this House. It is important that New Zealand undertakes our responsibilities to refugee claimants and also to those who seek our assistance because they're stateless. That was not the situation with this man who was not stateless. He had an option.It is very important that our number one job as a Parliament is to protect the rights and freedoms of New Zealanders. In these cases where we are weighing up the ability of the Crown and Crown agencies to protect New Zealanders versus the rights of New Zealanders or people in New Zealand to plan criminal attacks I will come down as will the National Party very clearly on the side of protecting New Zealanders from these sorts of attacks. We cannot be held to ransom by people who have no commitment to our way of life and no understanding that these great freedoms have been fought for. Unfortunately these people are in this country and are of concern to the intelligence and security agencies and to us and the police and others must have the ability to deal with them.So on that note I have appointed a spokesperson for counter-terrorism. This is the first such appointment that we could find in New Zealand and that we undertake to work towards a specific counter-terrorism agency to work across and to direct in terms of this particular area. It is not something that we can just leave for matters to fall through the gaps or for one agency to decide that they will pick up the lead on a particular potential terrorist. It is important that some agency some Minister is held accountable for the actions or inactions of those agencies and it is very important that we take this very seriously as a Parliament.So today I am pleased to be able to confirm that the Government does have our support on this issue and that we will proceed with voting for the legislation but there are still questions that should be answered. As this piece of legislation will not be the only piece of legislation that this House sees on it it is certainly something that if the Government does not pick up the opportunity to look at and establish a counter-terrorism agency or does not look at further legislation that might be required this party—the National Party—will do so. Thank you.