McCully Murray: General Debate 
McCully Murray: General Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3780] 
Hon MURRAY McCULLY (National—East Coast Bays) 
: 
 Here we are again—another Wednesday afternoon debate and another chapter of disasters for the House to reflect upon on the part of a Government that is assuredly on its way out. It is a Government that is now totally consumed by the battle between Trevor Mallard and the left and Phil Goff and the right for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. All the while the current occupant of the deputy leadership Dr Cullen is vainly wandering around imagining himself to be some latter-day Mickey Savage when he is increasingly seen by his colleagues as a latter-day Mickey Mouse. 
The disaster that I want to reflect upon today is more serious than most. This is the problem that New Zealand must confront now that we know we have a Government and a Prime Minister that are soft on terrorism. In the wake of the September 11 attacks this Parliament was asked to pass with some urgency the Terrorism Suppression Bill 2002. Other jurisdictions passed similar legislation to provide a tool kit for their authorities to deal with the new threat of international terror. The legislation asked that we gazette and designate terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban who were designated by the United Nations Security Council and asked member States to identify further terrorists who might be a threat to the liberty security and well-being of their citizens or neighbours. 
I had fondly imagined that New Zealand as a good international citizen might have a Government that took that responsibility seriously. In reviewing that legislation last year I expressed some concern that New Zealand had not on top of the UN list designated a single terrorist or terrorist organisation under section 22 of our Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. However I fondly imagined that our Prime Minister and our authorities might have done informally what they had not done formally—ensured that there was in fact a list by which the authorities could protect New Zealand against undesirables entering our borders. The expulsion in recent weeks of Mr Rayed Ali raised important questions about whether terrorists could too easily enter these shores undetected and today I want to table a list of terrorists and terrorist organisations—88 in all—that have been designated by Australia under its similar legislation on top of the UN list. Those 88 terrorists or terrorist organisations are not on the list of terrorist organisations or entities in New Zealand and have not been gazetted by our Prime Minister under the legislation solemnly passed by this House in 2002 in the wake of the September 11 attacks. 
I want to know why these terrorists have not been so designated and why the tool kit provided by this Parliament to superintend those terrorist entities is not being used by the authorities in this country. Our Prime Minister unlike John Howard is not prepared to give that tool kit to the authorities who are there to protect the security of New Zealanders. What is more frightening is that when I asked a question last week about the difference between New Zealand and Australia in this respect I was told there was none. Assistant Police Commissioner White told us on National Radio: “Entities that are listed in Canada and Australia that I think are being quoted here also cover ones that are listed by the UN and have thereby been designated in New Zealand.” That was what the assistant police commissioner who is responsible for counter-terrorism told the country on National Radio. 
Last week in the House the Minister of Police faced with allegations and assertions by me that there indeed was in Australia a list of 88 terrorist entities that had been designated by Australian authorities said: “there are not 88 terrorists on an Australian list.” Well today I will seek leave to table the list of 88 terrorist entities designated by the Australian authorities but not designated by the New Zealand Prime Minister that our Minister of Police told this House did not exist. I seek the leave of the House to table a list of 88 terrorist entities that have been designated by the Australian authorities and not designated by the New Zealand Prime Minister under section 22 of the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Is there any objection to that course of action being taken? There is.