Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on this the third reading of the Contempt of Court Bill. Can I just acknowledge the other Justice Committee members in the House tonight and the chair of the committee. But I want to reinforce the question that I have in my mind which is: why this sudden flip and change of position when we had debated this and when we had had very good constructive discussions on the committee in terms of feeling that we were going too far and that we risked having a chilling effect and impeding on Kiwis' freedom of speech to be able to actually speak out and talk about their experiences with the court? The reality is this: as members of Parliament we're sent here—or many of us are; some of us of course are list—to actually represent the people from our electorates the people that actually send us here. One of the important roles we have is actually protecting—believe it or not—our constituents and Kiwis that don't have a voice in this Chamber or don't have a voice in the court to protect them against the State because the State's got extraordinary powers. The State is extraordinarily powerful. Actually for everyday Kiwis that are living back home the one thing that they've got the one thing that they can use is their voice. Hon Andrew Little: Not to make false statements. Hon MARK MITCHELL: They can actually—not to make statements did somebody say? Hon Andrew Little: Not to make false statements. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Not to make false statements? I agree with you that people shouldn't make false statements and if they do make a false statement then there should be a remedy for that and we agreed with that on the select committee. But what did the Minister and this Government come back with? After we had made the change after the select committee had agreed—the National members the Labour members—Hon Dr Nick Smith: It was unanimous. Hon MARK MITCHELL: We'd all agreed. It was a unanimous decision and it was as a result of the submissions that we've heard from people like the Law Society that warned us against it. We listened to them and we made good changes and we brought the bill back and we support the rest of the bill—we think it's good. But we couldn't agree with the provision that we felt very strongly as a committee was going to have a chilling effect on the ability for people to be able to speak out about their own personal experiences with the judiciary. Do we think that something should be done around people that make false statements? Absolutely there should. But don't send them to jail. Hon Andrew Little: Well what is it? Hon MARK MITCHELL: Well a take-down notice is effective and if they want to ignore the take-down notice then there are other remedies that can be taken like being put in front of the Solicitor-General who can make a decision. That to us is a fair process. That to us is all that was required. So what this Government has said is no. At a time when they're telling us that they want to reduce numbers in prison they've brought a bill to this House where they're now going to put Kiwis into jail. They're going to put a Kiwi that comes out and makes a false statement—they may firmly believe in what they're saying. Their experience through that system may firmly have put them in a position. We've all heard of people that are deeply passionate about things and sometimes they even become obsessed about an issue but they believe in what they're saying. Yeah so Michael Wood laughs and thinks that's funny. That's actually true. That's correct. They feel deeply passionate about it. The answer for Michael Wood and the Minister and this Government is to do—what? It's to put them in jail. Let's put them in jail because that's exactly what this bill does. That's exactly what it does. If someone has a bad experience—Greg O'Connor: Read the Smith judgment. Hon MARK MITCHELL: And those members have spent most of their time in the House tonight standing and attacking Dr Nick Smith. In my view all Dr Nick Smith did is give us all an example of what a good electorate MP does—that is represent his constituents. If he's got to put himself on the line to do it he'll do that—no problem at all—and you know what? Sometimes some of the best changes that are made in this House are when there's a disruption when someone's actually willing to take a stand on something when they see that it's grossly unfair and the system's not working. That's what he did. He took a stand and what happened? There was a change made—there was a change made. Do you know what? I actually find it perverse that we've got the Labour members attacking a member of Parliament that stood up for a mother and a father to reunite them with their child and they're sitting over there and they're attacking him for it. They're sitting over there trying to defend a bill that we have come to this House and said clearly we'll support the rest of the bill—no problem at all—as we discussed on the select committee. We will not—[Interruption]ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! Just repeating the same interjection over and over again is not only annoying it's out of order. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Thanks you Mr Speaker. We will not support a bill that is brought to this House by a State that already has enormous power against members of the public that don't share that power. You come to this House and say If you speak out against the judiciary if you make a false statement do you know what we'll do? We'll send you to jail. You'll go to prison." because that's what this bill does. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I hope not. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Sorry Mr Speaker—not you of course. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Thank you. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Why would you make a change like that to this bill—sorry. Why would the Government make a change like that to this bill? The next speaker stand and take a call because I notice that the justice Minister—I can't refer to him not being in the House so I won't. Hon Tracey Martin: No you can't. No. Hon MARK MITCHELL: I would ask the next—or maybe Tracey Martin. She's got a lot to say for herself. No she won't stand and take a call because Tracey Martin's the MP that for six years stood up in Warkworth and she told everyone in Rodney: "I'll be there for you. I'll advance your issues. I'm going to be there for you every step of the way. I'll be a strong MP." And what does she do? What does she do? She moves to the Wairarapa. The minute they're in Government she moves to the Wairarapa. She's gone—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): As interesting as that is and it might be great in tomorrow's general debate but come back to the bill. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Thank you for reminding me Mr Speaker. I'll be seeking a call tomorrow in the general debate. Thank you for reminding me. So we won't support this bill for one reason and one reason only: this Government went against what the Justice Committee agreed on. We said that it would have a chilling effect. We believe it will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech. We believe there are much better remedies to deal with false statements. We do believe in the integrity of the court and it can be protected through other means. So we don't support this bill because quite simply we don't support putting Kiwis in jail for wanting to express their view. Thank you very much Mr Speaker."