1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterRt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterSPEAKER: The House is resumed. We come now to oral questions.ORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister): Yes and particularly this Government's plan to back our police to crack down on the gangs that peddle meth and misery within our communities. We promised New Zealanders that we would address the rampant lawlessness driven by the previous Labour Government's soft-on-crime approach and our plan to reduce gangs' ability to intimidate and to terrorise our communities is just one part of that.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Does he stand by his promise on bringing back semi-automatic firearms That is not going to happen. Not going to happen."; if so why has Radio New Zealand reported that "Everything is on the table" when it comes to changing the current firearms licensing regime?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: No papers have been received or decisions made in our Cabinet but what I can say is that our Government is going to balance safety and compliance.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Will he guarantee that his Government will not bring back military-style semi-automatic weapons?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: We will not be introducing any firearm types into this country beyond those that are currently available to licensed owners under current laws and regulation.Hon David Seymour: Is it the case that the Government has no plan to bring back semi-automatic firearms because there are already approximately 6000 New Zealanders with a licence to have one and it's logically very difficult to bring back something that's already there?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: That is correct.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Is the Government intending to make any changes to the number of people who can access military-style semi-automatic weapons?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: As that member knows our coalition agreement states that we will rewrite the Arms Act to provide for greater protection for public safety—greater protection for public safety—and we're going to simplify the regulatory requirements and ensure very good smart compliance.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Why won't he rule out liberalising access to military-style semi-automatic weapons when the police have made it very clear to the Government both present and former that doing so would result in more of those weapons getting into the hands of gang members and others who intend to break the law?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Because no papers have been received no discussion has been had and no decisions have been made in Cabinet.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Is he intending to visit the Linwood mosque on 15 March; if so will he tell the victims of that massacre that he is intending to change the law to make legal the purchase of those types of firearms again given that the firearm used in that terrorist attack was legally purchased?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: No disrespect but I won't take any lectures from that member about that event. I was an employer of someone who lost an employee in that event and I take that very seriously.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order. I asked him a series of questions about whether he was going to visit the mosque and whether he was going to tell the victims of that event that the Government was considering bringing back the very firearms that were used in that particular atrocity.SPEAKER: Well the problem with the question—particularly the second part of the question—is that it's relying on an assumption that the member is making when in fact the House has just been told there are no proposals before the Government at the present time.Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Why will he not rule out liberalising access to military-style semi-automatic weapons?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: I've said to the member there are no papers that have been received there's been no discussion that's taken place there have been no decisions that have been made in Cabinet. The second thing I've said is that we are a Government that's going to balance safe—[Interruption] Would you like to listen to the answer? We're going to balance safety we're going to balance compliance and we're going to make sure we have a good decision in Cabinet and that's yet to happen.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the Prime Minister intend to ban coming to this House promising a bazooka but turning up with a pop gun?SPEAKER: Look I'm sorry. I know that was that was by way of a question but it wasn't a question that the Prime Minister can offer a view on.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Yes he can.SPEAKER: Well really? I mean it's a very serious issue and there was kind of a trivial aspect to the question. So I think I'm going to rule it out.Hon David Seymour: Is the Prime Minister aware that in the year to December 2023 gang members carried out an average of 2.83 firearm offences per day and does the Government have policies to deal to the illegal use of firearms that has mushroomed over the last few years under current laws?Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well I agree. That's what we won't be doing: we won't be making illegal guns available to criminals to actually drive violent crime in this country because we're going to get tough on illegal guns—period. [Interruption]SPEAKER: All good calm down. Thank you very much for your offering front-bench members from the Opposition."