Twyford PhilHon PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Thank you Madam Chair. I'm looking forward to speaking to the amendments in Part 2 of the bill and we'll have a few things to say about the content of the Government's Amendment Paper. I'll also be bringing to the committee three additional amendments that have been developed in conversation with the former refugee and human rights community over the last few weeks. And the committee will see proposals that that community has made to improve the bill. I'll be speaking to those in in Part 2.But I did want to say at this point in the debate that Labour is supporting this bill because the prospect of a mass arrival is a low-probability event—probably a very low-probability event—but not a no-probability event. And the experience of a large steel-hold vessel carrying a large number of asylum seekers arriving in Canada and the more recent experience of again a large vessel making its way towards New Zealand that rather spookily disappeared off the radar screen is enough evidence to suggest that New Zealand could one day face a mass-arrival scenario. And it's in our interests as a country and in the interests of asylum seekers who did arrive in that kind of scenario that there is an orderly and humane system in place to deal with them.There are questions to do with security. There are questions to do with the health of the people who are arriving and most importantly that their legal rights are respected and that due process and legal representation are provided for with enough time and in a way that all of those matters can be dealt with in an orderly way. That's why we're supporting this bill.If it wasn't for the four substantive additional safeguards that are contained in the Minister's Amendment Paper we would not be supporting it at the committee stage.Ricardo Menéndez March: Your party introduced this bill as it was. Come on! Fuck. You voted for the bill without those amendments.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm not sure—[Interruption] I'm not sure I can ever remember someone who has displayed such incredible self-righteousness as what I have observed in the Chamber this evening from that member. I'm absolutely stunned at the display.CHAIRPERSON (Barbara Kuriger): The Hon Phil Twyford I don't think we'll start making comments to other people of a personal nature like that but you're very welcome to carry on your speech about the legislation.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: So I look forward to the rest of the debate but I wanted to make it clear that that's the basis on which we are supporting the bill. Notwithstanding what I've said there is an argument to be had simply about the notion of detaining asylum seekers. We have an obligation under international law to treat asylum seekers convention refugees just as humanely as we do quota refugees who come here through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Their rights are clearly set down under international law that we are bound by. And what's important about this debate is I think for us to do some soul searching about the safeguards and the protections that are built into this legislation to ensure that people who are being deprived of their liberty suffer the minimum necessary detention that the conditions of treatment and detention are protected and independently monitored and that all of the administration of the system that's been put in place is subject to appropriate judicial controls. And those are the matters that I look forward to debating in Part 2.