Hernandez FranciscoFRANCISCO HERNANDEZ (Green): Francisco Hernandez Mr Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Francisco Hernandez.FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ: It's all good. I've often been confused with my other colleagues such as Ricardo Menéndez March and Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan but I'm pleased to report that as they're more handsome and better dressed than me I'm not offended by any sorts of confusion between us.I rise to take a call on the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Amendment Bill. I want to talk a little bit about the kind of genesis—James Meager: Strong Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) presence today.FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ: That's right—strong OUSA. Ha ha!I want to talk a little bit about the genesis of this and the genesis of this was as Mr Meager alluded to yes it was talked about as a National member's bill. But it was a tranche of legislation that was adopted by the then Labour Government following—and I'm sure all of us members in the House would agree—a very tragic and very senseless attack on 15 March. My colleague Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan rightfully pointed out that we do need to actually centre the voices of the people in this. We need to centre the voices of the people who've been affected by gun violence.I think a lot of people have made a point and a lot of members opposite have kind of talked about a focus on the gangs right? This bill does actually focus quite strongly on the gangs. A lot of the member's contributions have been about the gangs but if we're serious about the gangs how do we actually get rid of the gangs? Will we get rid of the gangs by creating jobs? But instead this Government has pursued fiscal and monetary policies which have pushed unemployment up—4.6 percent; the highest it's been. If we're serious about getting rid of gangs we have to invest in police. Instead we've seen this Government making cuts to police. And this is a quote from the New Zealand Police Association about the cuts that are being made to the police—nearly 200 jobs—We think this will be a scattergun headcount-reduction exercise made in a silo by people who don't understand the work people do who they do it for and who also won't personally be affected by the outcome of the [so-called] 'realignment' exercise" which is a euphemism of the cuts that are happening around the police.And if we're serious about actually taking action on guns we have to create environments whereby social inclusion is fostered. This legislation does the opposite. It adds to the layer of stigmatisation of people who've already been through a lot. I mean we've heard a lot about the inquiry into State abuse about how people who've been abused by the State tend to turn to the gangs for comfort. I think we need to contend with these actual psychological realities. I mean some people do join gangs because they're bad people—that's absolutely true and we should make no excuses for the people who do join the gangs. But there are some people who've joined the gangs because of the trauma that they've experienced in their life. And further compounding trauma and further using the State to further abuse people isn't what's actually going to be a serious anti-crime or anti-gun thing. We've talked a lot about the potential harassment and Dr Duncan Webb has made substantial and quite informed and eloquent contributions about the potential for these warrantless searches to be used against the communities. And I do think that's definitely something that will further compound and further add to the layers of trauma that are already here.So my plea to the members opposite and my plea to all the members across this House actually is that rather than shouting slogans and actually saying "Oh well we need to crack down on the gangs. We need to deploy the police on the street. We need to execute people." or whatever. We actually look to see what's worked overseas. And what's worked is actually fostering inclusion. What's worked is actually funding the police and funding people to do the jobs that need to be done so that we actually do make serious work on reducing gangs and reducing the harms that they do—we actually create jobs and employment opportunities. But instead we've been going backwards—we've been going backwards under this Government. We're seeing beneficiaries stigmatised we're seeing the overall employment rate cut and it's really quite sad.I just want to conclude my speech by thanking the Minister for her substantial engagement during the committee of the whole House last night. I was able to take a call and my colleagues in the Greens were able to take calls and she did answer our questions in a way that was quite direct and I found inclusive. So thank you."