SpeechRON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Far be it from me to traverse some of the terrain that has been debated and discussed in the House this evening but I cannot go—on behalf of the people of the Wairarapa—without complimenting the member Alastair Scott for the hard work. I read in the newspaper that he sweated many long hours over this issue which clearly has vexed him for quite some time! He had the courage to put his very lengthy bill into the ballot in the hope that it might be drawn so that everyone in the Wairarapa could sleep easier knowing full well that the member for the Wairarapa Alastair Scott was on the job!I know much has been made of his bill this evening and it was treated somewhat lightly but I do have to remind the House—if I could come to his assistance in some way—that the use of explosives in New Zealand is not new in commissioning crimes. Mr Scott brings to the attention of the House the 1984 bombing of the Wellington Trades Hall on 29 March at 5.19 p.m. when caretaker Ernie Hall and his dog were blown up and he was killed. One could argue that had this bill been around at the time and had the perpetrator of that bombing been caught then a far tougher sentence might have been made available. But when we in New Zealand First look at this bill and we consider the fact that Ernie Hall was killed—Alastair Scott: Ernie Abbott.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Ernie Abbott.RON MARK: Sorry Ernie Abbott—I wrote that down wrong. When Ernie Abbott was killed the charge that the perpetuator of that bombing would have faced would have been murder with the full weight of the law and the full range of sentences available.I guess one of the things that concerns us is why when Mr Scott put this bill together he did not make the 5 years mandatory. He has left it open-ended by making the sentence one of not exceeding 5 years. One would have thought and I know in the Wairarapa people are asking this that if their MP Alastair Scott spent so many nights staying up late—until 3 a.m. I might have been told—drafting this bill he would have thought if it was so serious that the minimum penalty would be 5 years and not as we currently have a proposal to increase the sentence from 2 years to a period not exceeding 5 years. So we are probably going to address that issue in select committee and try to encourage Mr Scott to accept an amendment to his bill.I guess Mr Scott might well have been thinking of the Rainbow Warrior the bombing of that vessel and the death of a person there but once again we are going to have to ask Mr Scott: Well did the other aspects of New Zealand law not take care of that crime in an appropriate manner?". We are trying to be as generous as we can to Mr Scott because we know how much time he has put into this. And I know that he has put aside the issues of homelessness in the Wairarapa—he is not so worried about the 74-year-old who came to my office who cannot get accommodation anymore because the member's National Government sold off all the State houses over there and there is nothing to rent. He is not worried about the fact that small businesses are screaming at him about the fact that this bill does not contain anything to alleviate the pains they are suffering from the earthquake legislation or the health and safety legislation.We will try our best to get Mr Scott to look at a couple of things. I know that he still reflects on the Rainbow Warrior I know that he still reflects on Ernie Abbott's death and I know that it pains him and worries him that people might use explosives to commission crimes. But we would hope that in the investigations—which will be very thorough and very expensive let me assure the taxpayer as the select committee progresses through this bill—he would look to make the penalty mandatory and we would hope that he would examine the other penalties available for people who commit crimes of terrorism which cause murder and which cause grievous bodily harm to innocent citizens. We would hope that he would pay the same attention that he has clearly got in the back of his mind in that respect to other such policies and maybe come forward with an amendment to some of our Immigration Act policies because it is there that some of us believe these risks most appropriately lie."