Shearer David: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert):This issue is obviously an important issue where we want to try to get the balance right between our need to protect New Zealanders and at the same time protect our human rights. We have agreed that the Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill at its first reading be referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee but we have asked for that select committee process and the referral back to Parliament to be set down for 10 February next year rather than next week. Let us just think about that. I mean it is now Tuesday. Tomorrow we will likely meet as the select committee to discuss how we are going to be doing that. We are likely to have just 2 days to hear submissions from some of the organisations that Chris Finlayson talked about—the New Zealand Law Society the Human Rights Commission the Privacy Commissioner and many of those other organisations and others that want to speak. They are going to have 2 days for that. We are going to have to consider deliberate and come back to this Parliament by Monday next week. Well look if we are really serious about the fact that this is an important issue and it is then for heaven’s sake let us give and accord this issue the importance that it deserves by allowing the time that it needs in order to be able to make good quality decision-making around that. Just those organisations themselves have had a very limited time to look through the 47-page bill.When Labour received the bill late last week I spoke to the Prime Minister’s office and said: “Well actually what you should be doing is releasing this bill to every party and to those organisations in particular that you are going to want to hear from because they will inform your decision-making around making this bill which did not come out until Sunday a better piece of legislation.” These organisations and the other parties here in Parliament received it on Sunday and they have effectively 3 days to digest it and to make a decision. That is simply not adequate for a piece of legislation that is as important as this. Let us get it right. We do want to make sure that we get the legislation right and we do want to make sure that it is a bipartisan effort. I think the best way we can do this is through the amendment that Chris Hipkins put forward just a few minutes ago which was to push back the report-back date to Parliament to 10 February.I want to say that apart from those organisations I would particularly like to hear from the Muslim community. I would like the Muslim community in New Zealand to be given the opportunity to come before the select committee. This is certainly targeted at members of the Muslim community. The senior members whom I have spoken to—Phil Goff and I met with them deliberately on this issue last week; we had dinner together with a number of the senior members of that community—are themselves very anxious to make sure that with this legislation the safeguards are put in place so that if there is any person who might step over the line they are apprehended. At the same time they can do a lot to ease the fears of others in the Muslim community that they are being picked on. They need time and they need the ability to come before the select committee and provide their input. I believe that we will as a result of that input both from those organisations we talked about and that community have a much better result than we would have if we did not do that at all.There are some thorny issues in this piece of legislation. It is not simple. We have got the issue of passports which we spoke about before in the first reading. The issue of the 48 hours of warrantless surveillance is an issue that I think many of us feel very uncomfortable about. We have had some feedback from the Government that it is willing to think about options around that. We welcome that. I think it is a good move that we are able to engage honestly on trying to find the best way forward but that takes time. It does not get done in an afternoon. It does not get done after 10 minutes of hearing some body like the Law Society. We are going to need time to be able to deliberate properly. Of course we can meet through the weekend but that still means it is very rushed.A number of members tonight have spoken about and compared the way that we have done this with other countries in the world. We have got Australia which has got two select committees hearing its foreign terrorist fighter legislation as we speak. They are not trying to put it through in the same haste as we are. The Brits have slightly different legislation but in the UK they are introducing the bill tomorrow I think and they will not expect to have a report back until May. That is an adequate length of time that will enable them to give the bill the consideration that it needs to have. We understand the importance of the bill. We are not asking for the bill to take 6 months but we are asking for it to take longer than 2 days because 2 days is effectively what we are going to have when we put this bill up.I think the onus is really on the Government. If the Government wants to put this through in this time period I think it has to make the case to us. It has to say that this is very important because of a security situation right in front of us right now or because of an event that is coming up. What is it that requires us to have this legislation going through so quickly? So far all we have heard is that we need to have it through before Christmas before the House rises for the year. Well that is interesting but that is not really an adequate rationale for putting through a piece of legislation that has so much impact on not only our security but also our human rights our privacy and everything else as well. We want to hear the case. I think the Government owes it to this Parliament and to the people of New Zealand to present the case. Why do we need to have this bill going through the select committee by the end of this week so that we can refer it back to Parliament next week? We have not heard that yet. We have not heard that and I do not think that is reasonable.We are willing to work with the Government. We have said that. We are willing to come alongside. We will do what needs to be done in order to ensure this legislation gets across the line in an adequate and proper way. What we do want to know is why it is that this Government wants to push this bill through in the haste that it does at the moment. For that reason we are supporting and we want to put forward the amendment to reintroduce the legislation back to Parliament on 10 February.