Williams PotoHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 (CPRA) enables the restraint and forfeiture of any property in New Zealand that is derived from significant criminal offending. To initiate restraint and forfeiture under the CPRA requires a person to have engaged in activities that consist of an offence punishable by a maximum of five years imprisonment or more or have led to the person acquiring property assets or benefits of a value of $30000 or more.The member's bill proposes amending the CPRA to also enable restraint and forfeiture where a person has committed any criminal offence that occurs at a place where 4(1)(b)(i) there are prohibited firearms or firearms that are possessed unlawfully; and (ii) a person is present who is a member of a gang or organised criminal group." The bill would result in only a very small number of additional proceedings being taken under this amendment bill and would not significantly disrupt criminal behaviour.The member's bill also creates a number of issues. It does not provide definitions of some of the critical terminology needed to implement the bill such as defining membership of an organised criminal group. This would make the process for seizing criminal assets more challenging and time consuming as police would need to prove gang or organised crime group membership every time the proposed amendment was used. There have been suggestions the national gang list could be used to do this. The list as I've said many times is an internal intelligence tool and was not designed to meet the standards required by the court to prove an individual is a member of a particular gang.The member's bill focuses on people with firearms; however CPRA already allows police to seize assets derived from the trafficking of firearms or other illegal firearm activity. In addition the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 already allows the police to seize and dispose of firearms that are possessed unlawfully in breach of the Arms Act 1983.Gangs destroy lives and this Government is focused on targeting gangs and organised crime. We have never been more active in cracking down on gangs and organised crime and getting gang leaders off our streets. This Government is investing in police to support them in their efforts to tackle gang activity and gun crime. This is why this Government is investing $94 million into tackling gangs and organised crime in this year's Budget and why the Government's Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill is currently being considered by the Justice Committee. The Police are committed to targeting the offenders who do the most harm in our communities and to making New Zealand the hardest country in the world for organised criminal groups to do business. Our focus is on strong enforcement while also working with communities to put in place smart prevention by addressing the social factors that lead to people joining gangs in the first place. We are pursuing amendments to the CPRA to strengthen the targeting of assets—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! I appreciate that the Minister is giving wide context to—Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Sure.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): I haven't finished—is giving wide context to this bill; however it is a first reading of a member's bill and I invite the Minister to pay closer attention to that bill.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Madam Speaker. I don't have much more to say in terms of the member's bill. Just to say that we conclude by addressing the fact that there are a number of significant issues with the proposed amendment in the bill and the assumptions that underpin it particularly with regards to how we define an organised crime group. So in conclusion we are unable to support this bill."