Macindoe TimHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Could I assure the honourable member for Manurewa that far from boring us she was indeed speaking very intelligently and I'm happy to carry on where she has left off and I thank her for her thoughtful contribution to this debate. As she noted New Zealand joined the international Arms Trade Treaty—I have to say it was actually 2014 not in 2013 but that's a minor point. I'm pleased that she adopted the stance that she did because it was very clear from the flippant tone adopted by the Minister of Defence a short time ago when he was moving the third reading and reading out the Foreign Minister's speech that he is still not convinced that this bill is necessary.Given that we have thoroughly traversed Mr Mark's sarcastic remarks of last October and the more appropriate and informed comments of MPs from other parties including my own National Party since the bill's first reading last year I thought it'd be useful for those who are following this debate outside the House to hear a bit of its history and the views of some of our Five Eyes partners on this security issue.Speaking at the final Arms Trade Treaty conference in March 2013 the then Australian Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr noted that around 500000 people are killed each year by the estimated 875 million small arms that are currently in circulation—875 million small arms. He went on to say that more than 325000 people are said to have lost their lives through armed violence since the previous round of negotiations had ended just nine months earlier in July 2012. Then he went on to make some really interesting and alarming points about the proliferation of AK-47 rifles. With only eight moving parts weighing less than five kilograms loaded and costing less than US$100 in some locations it is little surprise" said Senator Carr "[that] the AK-47 rifle has become a ubiquitous feature of conflict zones around the globe. Around a decade ago tens of thousands of AK-47 rifles were transported into Liberia in violation of the UN arms embargo—firearms that were used to commit terrible crimes by young boys forced to kill." This is a serious issue. This was five years ago when Senator Carr was speaking. Today around 70 million AK-47 rifles are in circulation worldwide.In September of that year Senator John Kerry who was President Barack Obama's second Secretary of State articulated the views of the US administration in supporting the treaty when Senator Kerry said "This is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors. This is about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the world's worst crimes. This is about keeping Americans safe and keeping America strong. And this is about promoting international peace and global security. And this is about advancing important humanitarian goals."While I'd like to say much more I'll just put one final comment on record and that is of Britain's Foreign Secretary under the former Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Government. These are the words of the Rt Hon William Hague who was the then Foreign Secretary: "This treaty will help make the world safer by placing human rights and international humanitarian law at the heart of decisions about the arms trade. For the first time countries have agreed international rules governing everything from small arms to warships. If these rules are implemented globally and effectively they have the power to stop the arms from reaching terrorists and criminals and fuelling conflict and instability around the world."I'm sure that we would all agree with those comments. There are many more of that nature that I could put on the record but I very much hope that the immature approach of our current Minister of Defence will not be seen by those following this debate to reflect the views of members of this House as a whole because I can assure members of the public they most certainly do not. This is an appropriate intelligent and important response to a very serious and challenging matter of international security and I wholeheartedly support it."