Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand and take a call on this the High-power Laser Pointer Offences and Penalties Bill. Can I acknowledge the sponsor of the bill Hamish Walker who put this bill into the ballot and it has been picked from the ballot. He is responding—and the last caller highlighted the fact that there's been 117 cases where the legislation that the National Party introduced has actually been used in terms of action taken—[Interruption] Well if the incidents have been recorded then obviously there's an issue around the use of high-powered lasers. The issue exists there it sits there. In response to the last speaker Darroch Ball he's very upset by the fact that this Government's—the narrative now is up and the perception amongst Kiwis is that it's soft on crime. It is soft on crime. Greg O'Connor raised the point that this bill's been brought to the House and it's a waste of the House's time. Let me tell you what the waste of the House's time is: the Ombudsman's bill the bill that this Government brought to this House that affects a grand total of three people in New Zealand right? And I'd put to the Government this: if you were to survey every Kiwi that uses and has access to a commercial carrier or is a regular flyer and you ask them and you said to them What would you rather see: tougher penalties around someone that may use a high-powered laser to interfere or interrupt the functions of a pilot of your aircraft or the Ombudsman's bill?" I can tell you which one they'll be picking. It won't be the Ombudsman's bill right? So you're on the wrong side of the argument trust me. And let me raise another point—[Interruption] He's laughing. He's laughing about it and I'm actually shocked that the Government has not—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order! You've had your five minutes.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —chosen to support this bill because it would have been a chance for them to do something positive and send a positive message to people that may be thinking about interfering with commercial flights or our police Eagle helicopter. It might have been a chance for the Government to say "Yes we think that's a good idea to signal and get behind Hamish Walker." and to say "We're taking this seriously. You are going to face a stiff penalty or sentence if you engage in this. You could face up to six months in jail." I actually think that putting a commercial airline at risk with 200 to 300 passengers on it is worth six months in jail. I do believe that. I think that if someone is caught doing that it's worth six months in jail if they're caught doing that.Darroch Ball: It's worth 14 years already.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can I say to Darroch Ball—Darroch Ball: It's 14 years already.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Darroch Ball I'm speaking to you. Don't ignore me. You've had your five minutes. Let the guy have a go.Darroch Ball: Well clearly he's not listening Madam Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well he doesn't have to listen to you; he has the floor. Hon MARK MITCHELL: Thank you Madam Speaker. And you're right I'm not listening to him. I gave up on that a long time ago. The other point that I wanted to raise is the police Eagle. I just wanted to use a very quick example. When I was a young police officer in Auckland Central back in 1990 probably I was called to a job where a woman had been calling for assistance in the central city. I'd arrived there with a couple of my colleagues. We were looking for her. We were searching yards that were unlit and we were having no success at all in actually finding her. In fact we were about to give up because we thought it might have been a false call when all of a sudden the Eagle helicopter appeared with Lou Grant. And can I just acknowledge and remember Lou Grant and Alastair Sampson and Ross Harvey who very sadly we lost serving in that Eagle helicopter.I can't remember what the candle power was—it's about 20000 30000 candlelight power. They just lit up this enclosed yard and the offender immediately became obvious behind a skip bin with this girl who at the time he was trying to sexually assault. I can tell you right now even back then the Eagle guys—and I want to acknowledge our Eagle staff today that do an outstanding job. In fact the Eagle in Christchurch was subjected to a high-powered laser just in the last couple of weeks. They said that interference from the ground was just as risky to them in the work that they're doing as any type of interference from the air. So this is a serious issue. It's not something to be laughed at. It's not something to be scoffed at. It's not something to be trivialised. It's a serious issue that could end in tragedy. I want to again acknowledge Hamish Walker and the fact that he's brought a serious bill to this House to say that we are going to react as the Speaker said to a rising number of these incidents and we're going to send a very clear message that we're going to increase the penalty around it. The Government needs to do a little bit of soul searching and come back and decide whether or not they should be supporting this bill. Thank you very much Madam Speaker."