SpeechMARITIME POWERS BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 17 February.IBRAHIM OMER (Labour) (remote): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on the Maritime Powers Bill. New Zealand is an island nation with 15000 kilometres of coastline and one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world so keeping our maritime environment secure is a critical component of our national security and prosperity. Trades such as trafficking of drugs arms wildlife and humans compromises New Zealand's safety security economy environment and territorial integrity. Therefore there is a critical need for New Zealand to be able to respond to these increasing serious maritime threats in international waters and this Maritime Powers Bill just does that.The bill provides law enforcement agencies—who are defined as police constables customs officers members of the armed forces the Department of Conservation rangers and endangered species officers—with power to enforce elements of New Zealand's criminal law in international waters where they have reasonable grounds to suspect that serious offending is taking place on boats. It also provides powers to respond to a range of offending in international waters. The bill does quite a few things. It allows New Zealand to respond to criminal activities in the oceans and seas beyond New Zealand allows for research and surveillance based on the powers in the Search and Surveillance Act 2012. It also allows enforcing detention and arrest powers. We've heard some concerns about the bill—that it might be at odds with the New Zealand Bill of Rights and other international conventions on seas and oceans. But this bill is consistent with our rights and obligations under international law especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and international human rights obligations. So if it passes tonight it will enhance the wellbeing of our communities and advance our security and shared prosperity. I'd like to thank the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for their work. They have received about seven submissions including from the Privacy Commissioner the New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties. The New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties recommended the bill be amended to make sure the Bill of Rights would apply to the powers exercised under the Maritime Powers Act. The committee reviewed this recommendation and was advised that the Bill of Rights already applied to the powers under this bill and does not need to be expressly set in the bill. So this has addressed already some of the concerns that had been raised about this bill.As noted in our manifesto when it comes to our independent foreign policy Labour Party values include a focus on upholding the international rule of law and this bill contributes towards this. We must be honest that with globalisation and increasing interconnectedness and while people and goods move freely from place to place our law enforcement agencies need tools to be able to do their job. If they can't if they don't have enough tools then New Zealand will be subjected to criminal offences. For our shores to be kept safe our officers must be equipped well and this bill is going to do just that. This piece of legislation is going to help to do that and I commend it to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): The next call is a split call. I call Todd McClay.