SpeechIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): It's a pleasure to take a call in the House. It's the first time I've been allowed in the House this year and I'm pleased to be back down here where the air's rare and the heat's not quite so great. It's a pleasure to be able to take a call on the Maritime Powers Bill. Isn't it lucky that I'm following Andrew Little who knows all about the law; the Hon Gerry Brownlee who knows all about foreign affairs; and—I was going to say the Hon Greg O'Connor but I've jumped the gun; he'll get there one day maybe—Greg O'Connor who knows all about enforcement. I know nothing about this bill other than the fact that I was the spokesperson for fisheries for a while and it's a very interesting topic and it does have some relevance to this.But having listened to those three speakers I do in all seriousness realise the importance of this bill to New Zealand and whilst I was around in the days of the good radio station that Greg O'Connor was talking about—and I do remember it quite well. It's ironic isn't it when you think that we've come such a long way as a country that you can now set up a radio station in Parliament and broadcast to whoever you want almost whereas in those days you couldn't.This bill is an important bill and I was a bit interested in some of the clauses in it because if you think about the fishing industry for example there is a lot of illegal fishing that goes on in the world and to actually catch those boats that are out there fishing illegally and get them before they get out of our territorial waters which is what happens to us at the moment is almost impossible. So this bill will have quite an impact on that. And it wasn't that long ago that we had a boat from North America fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean getting back there and getting into port before it was caught. So the ways that you catch the people involved in what can only be described as criminal activity are quite interesting.Some of the things that interested me in this bill were the issues that the select committee dealt with and I think they will be dealt with again as Gerry Brownlee said in the course of the committee of the whole House. I was just imagining some crim jumping overboard and the Lady Elizabeth chasing him around in the Southern Ocean. If I was a crim I don't think I'd be that keen to take the sharks on. I think I'd rather take the Lady Elizabeth on than the sharks but it does show the lengths to which these people go to escape. The other issue that I think will be challenging for New Zealand—and it relates exactly back to the fisheries issue I talked about a few seconds ago—is the fact that we have to contact international countries and partners to get permission to effectively board their flagged ships and I think that will not be forthcoming in a lot of cases and it will be not forthcoming in the cases that we really need to get involved in. So I think that will be a bit of a challenge for New Zealand and it might be able to be managed through further discussion or even through a Supplementary Order Paper brought forward by the Minister.I think that is a challenge for us because there are plenty of countries in the world that aren't that friendly and even whose income comes from some of those illicit activities that we're trying to intercept before they get to New Zealand and preclude from getting here. So there's some challenges in this piece of legislation which sets out to enable us to intercept as Greg O'Connor so aptly said a whole lot of people and a whole lot of illicit goods whether it's fish or drugs or whatever it might be before they get here. So for us to have the intelligence—and I mean this sort of intelligence not that sort of intelligence. I mean the intelligence that tells us where things are where they're coming from and where we need to get to to intercept them is quite important to New Zealand. So I think there are a lot of things in this bill that will add considerable powers to what goes on in New Zealand and it gives our law enforcement agencies our rangers and people like that who have authority in this area—fisheries officers—to go out there and do what they're required to do. One only has to look at what's going on in front of this building and the extraordinarily difficult challenge that the police have in order to see the job they're required to do sometimes—and in this case in international waters far from New Zealand and in probably what could amount to quite dangerous circumstances.So I've got no problem in supporting this bill. It's a place that I've not really had a lot of practice in speaking on—foreign affairs or this sort of territory. But I do think that this bill will add a whole lot to New Zealand and I fully support it going forward in the House and I look forward to the discussion that happens during the course of the committee stage.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members this debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. on Tuesday.The House adjourned at 4.57 p.m.