Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Mr Speaker. Al salam alaikum. It is with heavy heart that I take a short call in this debate in response to the royal commission report on the tragic events of March 15 when one individual committed an evil act taking away the lives of 51 fellow New Zealanders and attempted to kill 40 more. Nothing can underline how these events have left a dark stain on our country's history. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. No report will bring them back to us. No report will ever wipe away the tears or the pain. Not only was this a tragic act but it took place in a sacred place: a place of worship a place meant for peace and a place meant for prayer. As a country we are proud of our freedoms and particularly of our freedom of religion and our freedom to worship in peace and without fear. This right was taken away and for that we must truly condemn it. As the National Party spokesperson for police I wish to acknowledge the heroic actions and the role our police undertook on March 15 last year. Within moments of being notified of what was taking place they responded with speed and with haste and put their lives on the line to apprehend this individual with a profound sense of duty to protect New Zealanders. Not only did they act on the day but in the days following where they dutifully ensured that their presence was felt not just in Christchurch but across New Zealand to ensure people worshipping or praying at mosques churches or other places of worship could do so in peace. I say to our policemen and women thank you. It is clear reading the royal commission report in the brief time that we've had it that there were a number of failures committed by the police regarding the licensing process which approved the licence for this individual and I would wish to acknowledge the Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster who has said that the systems were lax and open to easy exploitation. There were a number of recommendations put forward around how this process could be improved. They were around ensuring that the coherent and complete process for processing firearm applications was done and the report acknowledged that the training and review processes were not adequate. Part 5 of the report goes into these issues in significant detail. It is clear that this individual should never have had a firearms licence. Issues regarding whether the referees were suitable were raised as was the close relationship between the referees as outlined in the report. Red flags were also raised to say that the referees didn't know the individual well enough and the report says that more investigation was warranted our training of police staff was not regular and not reviewed frequently to ensure good practice and consistent practice and the guidelines should have been kept up to date. The royal commission makes a number of very sensible recommendations about this licensing regime and the National Party will support changes which mean that these processes are improved and that the training for police staff who process these licence applications is adequate. As a country we need to take all gun violence seriously but we must also ensure we uphold and protect the rights of law-abiding citizens. Future changes must be targeted at the people perpetrating harm—criminals and those who intend to commit harm—and ensuring the licensing system and processes are adequately robust. National supported the first tranche of firearms legislation but have not supported further reforms which seek to put more regulation on law-abiding firearms licence holders. This report outlines that there is now need for improvement in the police processing as well and this is exactly what the Government must ensure takes place. We need better training. We need to ensure police staff administering these are better trained and that there are better policies but we also need to ensure that we have firearm prohibition orders to take the guns out of the hands of gangs—a crucial tool which this Government must also pick up and take on. In terms of our national security this report also outlines that partisan opposition has reduced the social licence for our national security services to do a better job and we do need to take up the call of the Prime Minister to ensure that we do work together. We do ask that the Government works closely with us on those issues. This is a serious and comprehensive report. I wish to acknowledge the Hon Sir William Young and Jacqui Caine and all those who contributed to it. I thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity.