Walker HamishHIGH-POWER LASER POINTER OFFENCES AND PENALTIES BILLFirst ReadingHAMISH WALKER (National—Clutha-Southland): I move That the High-power Laser Pointer Offences and Penalties Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill. Put simply New Zealand is well behind other countries in addressing the menace and the clear and present danger of high-powered lasers that pose a huge risk to our aviators police and the travelling public. In this bill I seek to double the imprisonment sentence from three to six months and double the fines from $2000 to $4000. The statistics are truly alarming. In the last six years there has been a 130 percent increase in laser pointer cases and 717 recorded cases since 2014. In the previous two weeks alone there have been three cases: one where a man was arrested for flashing a laser at a police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch and the others were a small plane in Wellington and then the following night a two-seater aircraft was targeted. That's two incidents in two nights. Time and time again we are now reading about reoccurring cases of lasers being pointed at aircraft which puts a huge amount of lives at risk. People continue to point lasers at helicopters and planes which just demonstrates that the current penalties simply are doing little to deter offenders. What we need to do here is to deter these offenders. Last year the Ministry of Health released a report which stated It is of continuing concern that numbers of laser strikes on aircraft continue to increase." The report also stated that "Countries vary in their approaches to managing the risks from [high-power lasers] from raising public awareness to calling for voluntary improvements in labelling. However there is consistency in terms of strong controls countries apply to address aircraft laser strikes including bans and high penalties." yet at present under this current Government we're letting offenders do as they please getting away with murder as laser strikes on aircrafts continue to increase. When will enough be enough? Do we have to wait until there is a disaster or a plane comes down from the sky or loss of life before this Government acts? When will they take a stronger stance to show zero tolerance to this idiotic and highly dangerous behaviour?Over the past few months I've been speaking to many pilots. They are telling me that trying to land a plane while you have a laser in your eyes is not only incredibly dangerous it causes temporary headaches and blindness causing hundreds of passengers' lives to be at risk putting themselves their crew and every passenger sitting behind them at risk.Even air traffic controllers are now becoming common targets. You only need to look a few kilometres from here in Paul Eagle's electorate at the new Wellington aircraft control tower. The same day—the very same day—it opened some idiot in a nearby car park thought it was a good idea have a bit of fun to point a laser in that air traffic control tower in the eyes of the controllers who have one of the most important and dangerous jobs in the world safely bringing planes into land at Wellington Airport. This is one of the most complicated roles in the world.Pilots air traffic controllers police and many other New Zealanders are continually asking for harsher penalties. I also understand that the current Government even though they are aware of the increasing incidences and cases occurring have also been told that New Zealand is lagging behind nearly every other single country worldwide. They still feel this doesn't need to be addressed.No one in this country should feel unsafe in their workplace including those in aviation who hold the safety of hundreds of people's lives in their hands at any one time. Those in the emergency services who provide a critical lifesaving service are victims of high-powered lasers; for example fighting fires in Wānaka the previous year a helicopter was brought down from the sky. It had to land because some idiot down below was pointing a high-powered laser into the eyes of that helicopter operator. The Eagle helicopter has been targeted while fighting crime from the air. Why are we not sending the message to deter these offenders from continuing with these idiotic behaviours and showing these offenders the full strength of the law? We need to deter these dangerous acts.What is incredibly disappointing though is the Minister of Transport isn't willing to put the safety of people before politics and support my bill. The Government's soft approach on crime on these criminals is endangering the lives of Kiwis and in some cases the emergency services in New Zealand. [Interruption] I just want to acknowledge Darroch Ball over there who has a bill in the box around first responders. I hope that he takes a common sense approach and supports this bill. I look forward to that.Safety should be the paramount focus of all these ongoing issues and that's why we're voted into Parliament. We are voted here to protect our people to protect our citizens keep them safe especially when we're talking about heroes like the police helicopter operators or the rescue helicopters or even the pilots who fly hundreds of flights daily across New Zealand. The rescue helicopters they put their own lives at risk going up into the sky to get hundreds of Kiwis to safety every year from point A to point B in their time of need.With the continuing increase of cases year on year it is only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs. I ask this House tonight are we willing to take that risk when we have the power now to do something about this to send a strong message and deter these criminals that do this? We need to do more to protect our pilots and passengers who should all feel safe in aircraft across New Zealand.The New Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association supports my bill which have said that it would be a step in the right direction of protecting our pilots and our passengers. You'll also be aware ultimately that offenders will give power like other countries have to those who have requested complete prohibition. I think that's a bridge too far in this House tonight. But we have the power today to do something to deter these incredibly dangerous acts.We need to support our pilots our air traffic controllers our emergency staff and our law enforcement agencies to do what they need to do to continue to transport to save and to protect New Zealanders. We need to do all we can to ensure they are operating in a safe work environment. Those offenders who continue to put lives at risk through pointing high-powered lasers at aircrafts have to be dealt with and understand those circumstances. My high-power lasers offenders bill will do this by not only deterring those offenders but also by raising awareness about an issue which poses a great risk to pilots and passengers."