Craig LizDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. While I didn't sit on the select committee that heard this bill the Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) I really appreciate the importance of stopping firearms falling into the hands of the wrong people. Because I think if you look at the statistics every month police are called to 200 crimes where a firearm is involved and every year one in five front-line officers is confronted by a firearm and every year between 800 and 1000 firearms are stolen and they potentially end up on the black market and potentially in the hands of criminals. And so I think it's really important to be thinking about what we can do in this area and certainly in Invercargill what we are seeing is just in the media increasing reports of gun-related incidents and injuries. And also if you look at the stats the Far South has one of the highest rates in the country of illegal gun seizures across New Zealand. So it is an important issue but I think my concern is that I'm not sure that this bill will actually achieve what it's setting out to do which is preventing the most dangerous gang members accessing firearms.I think whenever I go and have a look at a bill that I've been asked to speak on where I haven't actually sat and heard the submissions the first place I always go to is the select committee report and when I went and had a look at the select committee report for this bill I think there were two things that particularly stood out for me. One of the first ones was that basically the majority of the committee members didn't actually recommend that the bill be passed. And if you couple that with looking at the number of submitters there 36 submitters made written submissions and of those the majority again didn't support the bill. So 26 out of 34 didn't support the bill and raised a number of concerns.So that's just one of the aspects but the other thing that stood out to me was just the huge amount of amendments—so looking through the actual text of the report it was just a whole lot of comments about This bit no longer applies because it's covered elsewhere" "Shift this to somewhere else" "Amend it"—and then you actually looked at the bill itself the huge number of deletions and then extra information that had been introduced. And so for me thinking it through this is a really important area but looking at the huge number of changes that have been made didn't inspire confidence in me that this bill would be actually doing what it was setting out to do. And so I think in contrast what the Government has already said is that we've got an ambitious firearms reform programme and we want to go on and address this issue.As other members in the House have mentioned we will be introducing firearms prohibition orders and what they'll do is they will make it illegal for high-risk people to own firearms because again we are really—it's a priority to strengthen our action to combat the influence of gangs and organised crime on our communities. So this is where we've already got work under way. But I think what we've said is that we will be introducing this legislation by the end of the year but as other colleagues have raised the issue with the current bill that's before the House at the moment is it just doesn't have that broad coverage that we think we would need. But our bill the bill the Government would be introducing wouldn't just cover gangs; it would also cover a whole range of other offences and issues that would pose a threat to the community.So I think looking at what's been left out of the bill and what we would be including is those who have had serious firearms offences serious violence offences participation in organised crime criminal groups—so some of the aspects covered by this bill—but also terrorism-related offences because I think the issue we've got is if we're only focusing on one aspect which this bill does around gangs the problem is that then you may have to come back if you want to then introduce other aspects that may relate to people who are then convicted under terrorism legislation or other aspects. And it would be much better if you can actually start that and do it comprehensively from the outset rather than focusing on just one aspect which is what this bill does.And I think the other thing that we need to be thinking about is how a bill in this area would actually fit in with the wider comprehensive approach that the Government has already got under way because already we've done a lot of work in this area. We've banned military-style semiautomatic weapons and that's actually taken 60000 prohibited firearms out of circulation and that's a huge number of firearms that could end up in the hands of gangs. So I think these are aspects that are not covered in this bill. And also we've implemented harsher penalties for gun crime and a tougher licensing system which means that we can actually make sure that the guns don't fall into the wrong hands. But I think the other thing is looking at what's already covered by some of the legislation because we've also strengthened the rules around determining who's fit and proper for possessing firearms and who could be disqualified for holding a firearm. And already what we've got is affiliation with a criminal group is listed as making somebody ineligible for a firearms licence.So just going into a little bit more of the detail of that in the current legislation which is already covered a member of the police may find a person not a fit and proper person to be in possession of a firearm or an air gun if they're satisfied—and then they list the criteria and there's a whole range of criteria there: so if they've already been charged and convicted by an offence that's punishable by a term of imprisonment; had protection orders made under the family violence or domestic violence Act; and particularly with reference to this bill if a person is a member or has close affiliation with a gang or organised crime group. So there are aspects that have already been strengthened in the wider framework that the Government has put in place in this area and I think the other thing is that there's been a lot of discussion around the current Government's approach to gangs and organised crime but just again emphasising the huge amount of investment that has gone into getting more police on the ground and basically having those police being able to look at and focus on organised crime with 700 officers to be focused on that.So moving forward there's been a big impact and I come back about those stats I was quoting about the southern region having one of the most high rates of illegal gun seizure and the impacts of Operation Tauwhiro because as it was launched in February and since then we have had a huge number of firearms seized—so over 1000 firearms have been seized as a result of that increased extra focus in that area. Over $5.5 million in cash assets has been seized and 940 people have been arrested in relation to firearms offences. And just looking at some of our local media reporting I think the comment was that that was why we were seeing those seizures of firearms down in the south in those numbers is because there's been a real focus there on what's happening.So I think just summing up the issue is that we have actually as a Government got an ambitious firearms reform programme and that's aimed at making sure and will make sure that firearms don't get into the wrong hands. And we've already announced that we'll be introducing firearms prohibition orders and that we'll be introducing the legislation later in the year to address that. But what we talked about is the fact that we need that time to basically do a more comprehensive approach which looks at the broader range of offences that may well be included as my colleague alluded to and some of the submitters pointed out the fact that offences under terrorism Acts would not be included in the current bill. We need to think about that. But I think also as my other colleague Duncan Webb was talking about there's then the issues in terms of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act—that those discussions need to be worked through and we have to have the time to do that in a proper way. The sense again is that there just wasn't the time or the ability to have that properly addressed in the context of this legislation.And so I think basically this is a really important area and I just think of the impact that the work already done in my own community of Invercargill with the fact that we have had large numbers of firearms seized and the impact that that has in terms of the number of guns in the community but I'm also thinking too that we need that broader approach that covers off all those areas that might need to be covered—that thinks of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act implications and the nuances there and just makes sure that we've got the time to do that comprehensive approach. So from my perspective I think just summing up firearms ownership is a privilege rather than a right but I also think that this bill that's before the House at the moment doesn't have the ability to take steps in the right direction. And so I unfortunately am unable to support this bill today. Thank you."