Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a great pleasure to rise to take a brief call on the Maritime Crimes Amendment Bill. I'd like to commend that member who just took his seat Willie Jackson—10 minutes is actually a long time to fill when there's a lot of bluster but I'm not going to go there; I'm just going to rise above it. I'm going to just rise above it but I just could not help myself. I will stop right there.The bill creates new criminal offences regarding maritime terrorism—the illicit trafficking of weapons of mass destruction their delivery systems and materials—as well as criminalises the transportation of fugitives by ship and intentionally causing any death or injury in relation to the offences outlined. These new laws will give law enforcement more tools to do their job in the interest of New Zealand and the global community.Talking about the global community I'd like to reflect on some of the comments that my learned colleague Harete Hipango talked about—that international events actually affect us here in New Zealand. As you know I was born in a country that is technically still at war in Korea and every time a ballistic missile goes up the worries about the world are on my shoulder. I'm always worrying about the family that's over there. I have a brother who lives in New York and every time there's some sort of a news item that happens we worry about our friends and family who are all over. Today in New Zealand we are families we are global citizens and we are impacted by things that happen in a global community now.The bill also underpins New Zealand's commitment to strong international diplomacy and dialogue by implementing the counter-terrorism treaties that New Zealand signed in 2007 and that came into force in 2010. New Zealand has always played its part as other members have said to combat terror on the high seas and to fight violence and intimidation wherever it rears its ugly head—sometimes in this House as well. The bill strengthens New Zealand's ability to deal with acts of violence and atrocities around the world and continues to serve our role as a good international security partner.It's also in the interests of not just New Zealand but all humanity to eliminate terrorism and maritime crime. It is a blight on the vulnerable of our global society. Many of us have actually read stories about the terrible human trafficking that happens and I hope that this goes some way to alleviating some of those issues that we face. Whether it's from Iraq to Somalia from North Korea to the Sudan we see acts of terror and New Zealand works our bit to stamp it out.I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Many years ago I had the opportunity to celebrate one of their anniversaries and had the pleasure of being on board the Endeavour where I actually got to see the work that they do and many of the frigates that came. I ended up refuelling some of them and saw the tremendous work that they do—not just the navy but all of our armed forces personnel the men and women who serve in our armed forces; but in this instance particularly for the navy who have for many years now been part of the ongoing operations to end criminal activities at sea including their involvement in Operation Ocean Shield fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa; supporting famine relief efforts in the regions; protecting our national economic interests by uncovering illegal trading in fishing in the Asia-Pacific Rim. Their work on the front lines of our borders defending our shores and the shores of other nations is truly commendable. On that note I commend this bill to the House.