Sabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18901. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):I am very pleased to be able to take my first call on this first clause of the Summary Offences (Possession of High-Power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill. Can I just join others in acknowledging the work of Dr Cam Calder. There has been a degree of frivolity throughout the progress of the bill Dr Calder but of course we have all acknowledged the seriousness of offending or incidents that can occur as a result of people misusing these instruments. The Hon Paula Bennett has alluded to it. Certainly we have seen even in warring nations the use of hand-held lasers to attempt to take down aircraft and to successfully take down aircraft.The crux of the title discussion throughout the course of this bill and fundamental to this clause was the change from it being simply a hand-held laser to a high-power laser of 1 milliwatt which the previous speaker alluded to. There was much conjecture and discussion on this at the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and indeed officials and the police provided some good advice. I think we have landed in the right space in terms of the redefinition of the title but also the fact that we are talking about high-power lasers as opposed to simply hand-held lasers which may be used in a completely inane domestic area and not present the same risk. I guess if we look at the difference between a hand-held laser and a high-power laser one could argue—and I think that Dr Calder certainly did successfully bring this point of discussion to the table—that it is no different from the summary offences possession of a knife. We do not talk about the knife being of a certain length; it is simply the fact that it is a knife which used inappropriately or in an offensive manner can cause grievous harm. One can do that with a very short knife in the same way as one can do it with a very long knife. So one could argue in terms of the redefining and as it relates to the—Hon Maurice Williamson: What about a two-edged knife?MIKE SABIN: Sorry what was that?Hon Maurice Williamson: What about a two-edged knife?MIKE SABIN: Double-edged? It is a double-edged sword indeed. But we jest. Coming back to the point that we arrived at the select committee which is now obviously highly relevant to clause 1 in terms of the title the decision was made—and it is probably on balance a wise decision—that high-power would be over 1 milliwatt. That is I guess given where the substantive damage is likely to be done or the risk is actually arrived at probably a fair landing place. Therefore the Act when it comes into force will be known as the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Act. I think that on balance Dr Calder accepts that that is fair. It will still achieve its purpose and ultimately that is something that we can discuss later in the passage of this bill.I think the title certainly reflects accurately what it is that this legislation aims to achieve—that it is high-power lasers over 1 milliwatt that are likely to cause the most risk to those travelling in vehicles and by air that we are concerned about if someone is stupid enough to use them in a malicious way. Of course that will I am sure ensure that university lecturers all around the country will feel that they can go about their business without fear of being unfairly targeted by this legislation. The bill will be amended as discussed to incorporate high-power laser pointers. In that I think that Dr Calder should be congratulated on his pragmatic efforts to ensure that he did not lose the essence of what he was trying to achieve legislatively and that this bill will achieve its purpose in that sense.