Wood MichaelMICHAEL WOOD (Labour—Mt Roskill): I rise to support and commend the Arms (Prohibited Firearms Magazines and Parts) Amendment Bill to the House on this second reading. As chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee which has considered this bill I wish to pass my acknowledgment on to both the Prime Minister and the Minister the Hon Stuart Nash who have led this legislative process. I wish to acknowledge fellow committee members from across the House who worked constructively and in a spirit of good faith in the consideration of this bill over a constrained period of time. But most importantly in my remarks today I wish to pay tribute to the submitters and acknowledge the points they made to the committee in the hearings last week.I can't think of a better point to start than the words of Mustafa Farouq the president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand or FIANZ who when he came and presented to the committee told us that he was there to represent those people who were not able to be with us on that day because they were dead because they had been killed by one of the weapons that this legislation proposes to prohibit. And it was very clear throughout the course of his submission and also the submission we heard from Anjum Rahman from the Islamic Women's Council that while we cannot undo the grief and the pain and the huge dislocation within our Muslim community that has occurred as a result of that terrorist attack we can in the words of Ms Rahman provide some solace to the community if we as a House take action on this issue. Those submissions and others reminded us strongly of why we are here; not simply because of that awful attack on 15 March but because of the fundamental failure of our society and this House to take action in the years before 15 March 2019. I have here a copy of the recommendations of the Thorp report in 1995 which said that we should take action and prohibit these weapons. We heard from submitters some of whom I will mention later on who told us again and again and again of the times in which these concerns were raised. I acknowledge Simon Mount QC who did not appear before us but who submitted and was a contributor to the Thorp report and urged us on to action. I acknowledge the Police Association who gave a very powerful submission and reminded us—and responded to some of the criticisms that this process may have gone too quickly—that in fact we have been too slow to act and that the calls have been made by police by the Police Association and others for years. At this point I particularly want to acknowledge the men and women of the New Zealand Police who have carried a huge load since 15 March in protecting our community being a critical link but also during this process of providing outstanding service to the Parliament and the select committee by way of advice to us to make good law.We heard from Professor Alexander Gillespie of Waikato University who is professor of law and terrorism. Professor Gillespie was one of those people who submitted to the select committee inquiry that produced a report in 2017 that recommended a range of actions in terms of firearms reform—some of which were actioned but some of which sadly were not. Professor Gillespie reminded us that after that hearing he spoke to media and he said that if there was not change in this area—this was in 2017—another Aramoana was possible and foreseeable.Powerfully we heard from Tim Ashton. Mr Tim Ashton served in the New Zealand Police for 18 years. He was a member of the armed offenders squad and the Special Tactics Group and he was one of the officers who was involved at Aramoana in the apprehension of David Gray during that massacre and he spoke to the repeated concerns that he has raised over the years and the repeated calls for action to remove from general circulation military-style semi-automatic weapons (MSSAs).As Minister Stuart Nash mentioned we had a very powerful submission from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and from James McKay a general and trauma surgeon at Christchurch Hospital who treated 48 men women and children who were victims on 15 March. He detailed the horrible impact of these weapons their huge impact on the flesh and the bone of those people and made a very powerful clarion call to our committee and to our Parliament not to let slip this opportunity to rid these weapons from general circulation.I also wish to acknowledge all of those who submitted on behalf of the New Zealand firearms community. This was a wide range of people. I want to acknowledge that the vast majority of New Zealand firearms owners are decent and law-abiding people that they are not the targets of this legislation. They are not bad people for owning firearms. This is a piece of legislation that aims to keep New Zealanders safe by minimising as much as possible the risk of serious military-style semi-automatic weapons circulating in our society. I acknowledge submissions that were received from Federated Farmers who support the general intention of the bill notwithstanding some specific concerns they have around wild animal and pest control which I will touch on shortly. I wish to acknowledge the Mountain Safety Council who have a special role in our system in terms of the training and education of firearms owners and who support the direction of this bill to remove these weapons from general circulation. They noted that there is some convenience in some people holding military-style semi-automatic weapons but they are not necessary in most cases. I wish to acknowledge Fish & Game who confirmed to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on questioning that in nearly all cases these weapons are not required for hunting and said that Military-style semi-automatics have no place in New Zealand. They never did". I especially wish to acknowledge the submission of Rural Women New Zealand. They made three very pithy points: that in most cases in rural New Zealand these particular weapons are simply not needed. They made the point that rural women have raised concerns about these weapons over the years and also that in the event of tragedies in rural communities it is often women who are left to pick up the pieces. We heard the rural women of New Zealand.In response to the submissions that were raised—both written and oral submissions—the select committee has made a number of changes to the bill which I believe ensure that the bill while keeping to its original purpose will be as effective as possible and as fair as possible. We heard from Federated Farmers that there are some particular situations in rural New Zealand where specific pest species in certain types of situations may require the use of MSSAs. Their request was for an exemption for farmers to own these weapons in those situations. The select committee on balance did not—could not—see its way to supporting that exemption but has made a narrower change to ensure that commercial operators who will be tightly regulated by the police who would have had access to conservation land will now also have access to non-Crown conservation land and private farmland for the purposes of this sort of wild animal and pest control. I believe that will go some way towards meeting that concern from Federated Farmers.I also want to touch on the fact that the committee has not seen its way to recommending a more general exemption for sports shooters. In the end often with bills like this people support the general direction but want a particular carve out for their particular activity. That is understandable; there is nothing wrong with that position being presented. But the challenge the select committee had—whether it came to an exemption for farmers or an exemption for sports shooters—is that once you start making those exemptions you run the risk of undermining the fundamental point which is to remove as many of these weapons as possible from general circulation in our community. So we believe fundamentally that that would've undermined the core purpose of the bill.The select committee heard submissions on the exemption that went to the committee for collectors and some of the submissions outlined a concern that collectors may become a target as they would be the owners of these weapons and so the select committee has put forward a small change to the rules around collectors having an exemption for these weapons in certain cases which will ensure that a vital part is stored not just separately from the core weapon but actually at a different address. We believe this will meet some of those concerns that were raised. As other speakers have raised a very limited exemption for heirloom and memento weapons has also been included in the bill.I want to acknowledge all select committee members for their role in this process. This was a process of the Parliament coming together to do something in the public good. The final word that I want to provide on this bill was from Her Worship Lianne Dalziel the Mayor of Christchurch who presented to us at the end. She noted that her parliamentary colleague from the early 1990s the Hon John Banks had said that he was haunted by the failure of that Parliament to act on this issue. She urged us to seize this moment. I believe that we as a Parliament are seizing this moment. We should pass this bill with reverence for the victims with conviction that we are doing the right thing and hope that we will build a safer community for all of our people. I commend the bill with its amendments to the house. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker."