Calder Cam: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCalder Cam: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18896. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr CAM CALDER (National):It is an extraordinary pleasure to stand and take a call on the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill in this the Committee stage. I am told that I can actually take—Hon Amy Adams: As many as you like.Dr CAM CALDER: —as many calls as I want and I cannot believe this because rarely does one have that honour in this House.Simon O’Connor: In these final days.Dr CAM CALDER: Indeed. As you know my time here is coming to an end so I am delighted to take this opportunity to speak on the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill. I have to say that this was something that the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee changed the title of. It changed the title of the bill. Many of the members of the committee are here today and I have to acknowledge the extraordinarily fine chairmanship of David Bennett and the remarkable support of Chris Auchinvole Simon O’Connor and other members of the committee who looked at this bill long and hard. There was no withdrawal from the scrutiny they gave this bill. What they decided—for very good reason—was that the name of the bill should be changed from the Summary Offences (Possession of Hand-held Lasers) Amendment Bill to the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill. I would like to go into some of the reasons why.Phil Twyford: Don’t feel you have to.Dr CAM CALDER: Some of the reasons can be found on the internet Mr Twyford. I know Mr Twyford that you are a habitué of the internet. You yourself were you to peruse the entry for high-power lasers would be surprised at what you found. What he would find is the extraordinary power of these devices. I noted in the speech I made on the second reading how easy it was to purchase high-power laser pointers for a relatively small price. I am pleased to say that now if one goes on to the internet one finds warnings to prospective customers from the Ministry of Health and the New Zealand Customs Service outlining to potential buyers of these devices our new customs and health regulations which cover the importation and supply of these dangerous goods. These new controls on the importation supply and acquisition of high-power laser pointers are reinforced in this legislation that we are debating in the Committee of the whole House today.As I said the title of this bill has been changed to purposefully bring in the definition of “high-power laser pointer” because what we found at the select committee—and I am sure members of the committee may bring this out draw it out and expand upon it a little bit more in their own contribution to the debate—and what we heard was that there was a body of opinion that suggested that devices of 1 milliwatt and less in power were highly unlikely to cause problems. I have to put up my hand and say that when I drafted this bill I personally wanted to include all laser pointers because I was of the opinion that one could still be distracted by a laser beam in one’s eye at whatever strength. But the committee looked at the various arguments for and against this—and I am sure one of my colleagues may bring this out to a greater degree later—and the committee made the decision that it would apply to laser pointers of over 1 milliwatt in power. This is the reason we changed the title of the bill which we have alluded to before—to make it clear that this Summary Offences (Possession of High-Power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill applies to the possession of high-power laser pointers and makes it an offence to carry such a device in a public place without reasonable excuse.This bill is another strand in this Government’s efforts to reduce the very real danger—very real—posed by these devices. So just to recap it is not just this bill; this bill is an adjunct to some excellent legislation that the Government has brought to the scene. The Government has brought in Minister Jo Goodhew and some extraordinarily good legislation. When I get the opportunity I will speak more on that later in this debate.