SpeechSecond ReadingHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Foreign Affairs): I move That the Russia Sanctions Bill be now read a second time. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: There's clear urgency for the passing of this bill and I'd like to thank all the members who've contributed to the debate this evening. What we have all established is that not only is there a necessity to continue with the progress of this particular bill both the humanitarian implications of war being undertaken at this moment the devastation to property the loss of life and the displacement of populations urges us to act in unison with others. And as I've said an estimated 2 million people have now fled the Ukraine and this number continues to grow every day. Those who are staying in the Ukraine need assistance so the humanitarian efforts that are currently being undertaken around the world which New Zealand is contributing to will help those who need food and power and warmth.Can I briefly comment on some of the points that were raised in the speeches—firstly that this should have been done earlier. I think the situation warrants a targeted bespoke approach to sanctions in light of the actions of Putin and the continued aggression. I left New Zealand on 19 February and at that time while it was potentially imminent that an invasion or an attack could occur actually what we were seeing at that moment was militarisation along the Ukraine border. I was over in Europe on the 24th when the invasion occurred and things escalated very quickly. But once we saw as a country that things were escalating as has already been said by many speakers in this House we applied all the sanctions that we had available to us: travel bans export controls and we undertook diplomatic representations at a range of levels to ensure that we were reflecting our concern as a country to what we were seeing. And certainly once an invasion occurred we called in the ambassador here in New Zealand and we preserved our ability as a country to keep diplomatic channels open. Why I point to that is that I don't think we acted too slowly on the way in which New Zealand expressed its position on this significant issue.The other point that was raised was in relation to multilateralism. And I think many speakers made fine points around the fact that the United Nations Security Council did fail us in the way that it was not able to enforce a vote in relation to sanctions. However the United Nations Security Council does not act alone and it acts alongside other institutions—other parts of the UN system. So when the United Nations General Assembly placed its vote around condemnation and 141 nation States voted in favour of condemnation we were in good company. Again that informs our ability to be able to use that indication as a means for taking a targeted approach to sanctions against Russia.Can I say that when we tabled the bill we left a day for a limited level of consultation to occur. And I take on board quite seriously the points that were raised by members in this House that in an ideal world we would have a really long period of time to consider autonomous sanctions and go to full public consultation. That has not been the case in this instance but in the day that we were able to seek advice from groups we deliberately ensured that we were contacting the New Zealand Law Society the Privacy Commission and the New Zealand Bankers' Association on aspects of the bill because we understood how important it was to get their soundings. Again these were issues that were raised by parties in this House all of them just to ensure that we had some level of exposure of the intent of the bill with those who were either going to be responsible for undertaking the implementation of the sanctions or could improve the legislative drafting of the bill.I'm grateful for their input and several minor changes were made to the bill as a result. They include insertion of a new clause 8(2) to provide greater clarity on the threshold for recommending sanctions. The new clause 8(2) clarifies that it is for the Minister to judge whether a sanction is appropriate as an act of condemnation by New Zealand. It ensures that it is appropriate for the Minister to consider sanctions for the purpose of exerting pressure on or punishing Russia including through targeting oligarchs. This still retains the broad power for the Minister to make sanctions.The other amendment was amending clauses 15 and 31 to clarify that the purpose of sharing information is for the purpose of this bill and any regulations under this bill only. Also the period that an individual or business has to wait to seek the review of their inclusion on to the sanctions list was reduced from 12 months to six months. And this acknowledges that the sanctions could impose significant economic consequences on them and that the intention of the sanctions is to push individuals to exert their influence to cease the war.Finally I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of officials who did exhaust themselves—both the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Parliamentary Counsel Office and other departments over these last few days—to ensure that the bill got urgent attention for this introduction. I know that their hard work will not stop because once the bill comes into effect they will work at pace to get the first tranche of regulations into place.Lastly can I just acknowledge again the member Gerry Brownlee. We're not making too much politics of this. Whether it's 83 percent or what makes up 83 percent the point is there is a portion of the bill that has helped to enable at speed the presentation of the bill that members are considering here today. Can I also acknowledge the Green Party. They made very helpful decisions around the need for greater transparency in the regulation-making process also to consider a threshold and the way in which to give effect to a sanctions regime. And also alongside the Māori Party the Green Party were very clear that the bill needed to be reviewed before the three-year period at which regulations normally apply. So clause 29 is a direct indication of that feedback. I'm not sure the extent to which members will go to other aspects of the bill but I would just like to cover off in my final remarks of the second reading that I think having a public register going forward into a fuller and broader autonomous sanctions regime will be one of the aspects of a New Zealand approach to a sanctions regime that will give the public greater confidence in the way that we are seeking to not only form sanctions but actually be transparent about who the sanctions apply to. I'm glad that we have that opportunity to include a public register in this legislation and it will be a small but useful step going forward when we consider the more broad aspect of autonomous sanctions.Lastly on the approach to autonomous sanctions it's my strong view that we do need to take New Zealanders with us because applying sanctions imposing sanctions has a two-way impact and we do need to consider that. We do need to consult with the public around the implications to what they may export anywhere in the world if we were to invoke a sanctions regime. We do need to be cognisant of some of the things that they're concerned about but also civil society because the humanitarian aspect of an autonomous sanctions regime is certainly a key aspect of what New Zealand would want to see in a successful piece of legislation that is more enduring than this targeted approach right now. So I'm pleased to be able to offer a brief reflection on second reading.