Hipango HareteHARETE HIPANGO (National—Whanganui): It's quite timely that I am scheduled to follow the speech of our Minister of Defence. Before I do though in taking this short call I first of all acknowledge my colleague Dan Bidois in giving his maiden speech and well supported by his whānau here today. Secondly the last time that I spoke in this House was on the evening of the tragic seven-death car fatalities in my electorate of Whanganui north of Waverley. So my thoughts again are with the grieving families as they—the final passage of their loved ones. So this is the ebbing and flowing of life and as grief washes over the families I now turn to speaking and addressing the House on the Maritime Powers Extension Bill. So the Minister of Defence has shared with us his insight and analysis of the bill. Just last evening there was a gathering of many of us from here in the House courtesy of the American ambassador for the Fourth of July celebrations. I had the opportunity to reconnect again with Rear Admiral John Martin chief of the Royal New Zealand Navy. At the time I didn't know that I'd be speaking to the House on this bill. Had I I would have addressed these issues but I certainly acknowledge the Minister in terms of heeding the service and the regard that we have for our service personnel. This bill is very much about those who will be giving service on those surveillance vessels within the navy. I also seized the opportunity because last night I briefly met with the Chief of Defence Force on his first official appointment and occasion last evening—Air Marshal Kevin Short. I make reference because Aotearoa we are a small nation and these are the relationships that we have and we are able to duly acknowledge each other for the contributions that we make.In being a small nation Aotearoa New Zealand has a vast vulnerable and exposed coastline. Our coastline is 15000 kilometres; that is 9300 miles. It's the ninth-longest in the world—just a little bit of information there—following behind Canada Norway Indonesia Greenland Russia the Philippines Japan Australia and the USA. So because of the expanse and vastness of this coastline we are terribly exposed and vulnerable. Drugs are a plague and a scourge in our society. This is an area that—having worked in the criminal law field I know what a scourge it is and it needs to be purged from our communities.This Maritime Powers Extension Bill will enable—picking up on the word enable". A key focus is about preventing harm to those in our community. So this bill amends the Customs and Excise Act 2018 and also the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. It has the following objectives: "to provide the New Zealand Customs Service … with an additional option to disrupt drugs smuggling."; also "to establish clear jurisdiction over offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act".So there was reference to the detail which will be canvassed and scrutinised with keen eyes. Seated here in front of me is my colleague Chris Penk who is a former naval officer of both the New Zealand and the Australian navies. My colleague Chris serves on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee and will have a particular investment in terms of this and the service that he's given there.So a key focus is about preventing harm and making it harder for transnational criminal groups targeting New Zealand. Many of us will recall that on the news—I certainly do very clearly—there was an incident back in 2016 I believe where—Operation Frontier it was—there was some 449 kilograms of methamphetamine that had been located in the back of a campervan with a further 52 kilograms that were buried at Ninety-Mile Beach. There was another incident in February 2017 where a New Zealand - flagged yacht was intercepted off the Australian coast just east of Sydney with 1.4 tonnes of cocaine. Now the fiscal value of that was $320 million but it's about the value and the scourge and the imposition on the health and safety of our community.So my call is short this evening. The detail will be scrutinised before our select committee before it comes back. I look forward to hearing speeches and addressing the House at the second reading. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."