Wong Pansy: Aviation Crimes Amendment Bill Civil Aviation Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Wong Pansy: Aviation Crimes Amendment Bill Civil Aviation Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:642;Page:11955] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 National is pleased to support the passage of this legislation. New Zealanders are well known to be travellers and we welcome visitors. The tourism industry is obviously a very important contributor to our economic well-being. In order to enable our visitors to travel to this country with confidence and security and to enable our people to fly to other places in our planes it is important for us to abide by international aviation security measures. It is for that reason that National supports this legislation. 
I say once again that the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee has taken a very responsible and diligent attitude to examining the legislation. We have made some changes that I am sure even the Minister who was just on his feet Harry Duynhoven must appreciate. Two of the provisions in the legislation attracted the most comments and feedback during the submission stage. One of those provisions is about prohibited items that travellers might carry on to the plane through not knowing or not paying attention. According to the original legislation all those prohibited items would be taken away from those travellers and airlines or airports would have to keep a record of the items and store them away somewhere until people claimed them back. We were very persuaded by submissions from the various airline and airport officials and authorities that in order to do that we would probably end up building quite a few warehouses which might be larger than the airport itself in order to store those prohibited items. We were told for example that many visitors or people travelling overseas carry water. We have heard that the Hon Maurice Williamson bought some lovely perfume for his wife that was treated as a prohibited item. 
The select committee came to the conclusion that we should really adopt a more practical method which means that a prohibited item would be confiscated and destroyed. In order for that not to cause undue distress for the travellers and also for people who have to implement these measures like the security officers in the airport we would like to impress upon the Minister and the various authorities that they should make sure that very focused widespread promotion is mounted to let the public know that prohibited items will be confiscated and destroyed. We think that that is just a case of being fair. People should be very well aware of it. We want very clear notices to be put up at airports in order to give people one last warning that items taken from them will be destroyed to avoid the very distressing scenes that might happen there. 
At this juncture I want to bring in the Sikh community’s concerns. This community has felt that it has been targeted since the international sentiment towards the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Sikh community has very very serious concerns that it has been targeted particularly because its men carry kirpans when they come of age. Kirpans are usually 6-inch-long soft-bladed ceremonial swords. Sikh men carry these swords with them all the time. Members of the Sikh community are very concerned about what would happen to them if they forget to pack away the kirpan in their luggage. I am grateful to Mr Mark Everitt of the Aviation Security Service who has agreed with the Minister’s consent to address the Sikh community in person about its concern. First of all Mr Everitt has assured those communities that they will not be targeted. He has also assured them that it will be written into the operation manual that if a search needs to happen then due care and respect will be given to individual privacy so as not to embarrass people in public. 
The Sikh community also suggested that there could be a box for kirpans provided at the airport for when people have forgotten to take the kirpan off and pack it in their luggage. The New Zealand Sikh Society is very happy to clear the box every now and then. Mark has taken it upon himself to find out whether that can be arranged. The Sikh community also—I think rightly—stressed the importance of promotional campaigns being mounted in the Sikh community and other communities that feel that they might be targeted because their practices are quite visibly different from the wider community’s practices. I would impress upon the Minister the need to send a message through the relevant authority that promotional campaigns should be targeted towards those communities in order to remind them that any prohibited item will be confiscated and destroyed. 
The other matter the Sikh community raised was the need to pass educational material on to the relevant authority so that people understand the religious importance that kirpans have for Sikhs. The Sikh community did not ask for an exemption even though it was informed that it could have one. I knew about this for the first time when we were told by Mr Mark Everitt that if one had a blade that was 3 centimetres long then one could actually carry it on to the plane. But despite that the Sikh community did not ask for an exemption. What it really wanted was respect for and an understanding of the religious importance of the kirpan. 
Another issue that has attracted a lot of feedback and submissions was the need for us to have security officers on board airplanes in the future. Pilots and enforcement authorities would like to have a lot more input into that provision. They are already concerned about whether having security officers on board would make flying safer or less safe and they are concerned about who would be in control and under what circumstances action could be taken. I understand through being on the select committee that the committee included in its commentary the comment that it hoped if that provision were to come into force that the relevant enforcement agencies would be involved so that people could agree on common-sense acceptable practices. 
National is pleased to have made a contribution through the select committee process. We understand the need to pass legislation that enables our people to continue to enjoy travelling to other countries and that enables visitors to continue to be able to visit our country.