Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): It was obviously a rare moment of clarity that the Government was taken with when they decided to introduce this bill. There is no doubt that New Zealand needs this legislation. We have one of the largest territorial seas of any country in the world and of course before anyone can come into those territorial seas there are vast stretches of international water. It is clear that the security of New Zealand the integrity of our you would say prohibitions on prohibited products are threatened by the way in which some of that product and some of those threats can be transported through those zones. So I agree with the Minister when he says that it is important to extend existing powers in New Zealand on land and in our territorial sea into that international jurisdiction. So the National Party will be supporting the bill. We look forward to the committee stage where there should be a decent discussion about the changes that the select committee has recommended. And while there were only seven submissions on the bill the committee did take quite a bit of time in discussion with the legal team from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) so that we properly understood where the gap was between New Zealand domestic law and where the gap was between our territorial seas responsibilities and right of jurisdiction and those of international waters. I think in the end we were quite comfortable that extending the law as this particular bill does will leave our enforcement agencies in a good position. The one thing that we were a little concerned about though—or some members I should say—was the extension of those powers to a range of officers outside of what we might normally expect in New Zealand. So that would give powers of arrest search and seizure to rangers and conservation and endangered species officers. They would have the same powers as police and customs officers and that is an extension of power that in the past the National Government has been a little wary of. We don't believe that sometimes volunteer rangers on land should have those particular powers. But at sea quite clearly it's a different thing because they're most likely to have been accompanied by perhaps military forces through the navy or through the police. Those sorts of other protections or layers of protection are there and this provision therefore simply gives protection to someone who is participating in an interception-type activity. The bill addresses that lack of adequate maritime power as we've said particularly in international waters. I think it's appropriate that the New Zealand Government does have a mechanism through its various organs to respond to offending in those areas and to any security threats that might arise. One of the things that the committee looked at among a number of them was the clarity of purpose in the bill and we've made some recommendations that I'm pleased to hear the Minister say will be picked up presumably in a Minister's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) in the committee stage of the House.But alongside that concern there were also concerns about the interaction of the Crimes Act the Convention of the United Nations—or the UNCLOS provisions—the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.Hon Andrew Little: Convention on the sea.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Yes the Minister knows what I'm talking about which is a good thing because he'll be writing the SOP. So I'm immediately encouraged by that interjection.There is also we thought a need to clarify too the issues around pursuit of a vessel without interruption of communications and that will be further tested out. There is the exception to flagged State vessels. That would mean that if a vessel is carrying a flag of another State then there would have to be agreement from that State that the enforcement action could take place and that's not a big break on the whole deal here. It is obvious that New Zealand enforcement agencies work internationally particularly in the pursuit of those who are moving illicit drugs around the globe. Then of course we also as quite an aside heard from the New Zealand Customs Service this morning about the extent to which they are frequently now having to engage in the long-term tracking of illicit product that's coming into New Zealand. They've had some extraordinary successes. But if there was the capacity or the capacity existed within New Zealand law for them to be able to intercept some of those shipments further out from New Zealand territorial waters perhaps with the assistance of other countries then that would be a particularly good thing.There is also a need we thought for greater clarity around the powers to detain persons. Remember that this bill in part is concerned about the ever-growing problem of human trafficking all around the world and quite often through the waters that surround New Zealand. So there needs to be quite some clarity about who can be detained in those circumstances and absolutely no confusion about those who might be victims and those who might be perpetrators.Also we thought the bill could be a little bit enhanced by looking further at the issue of who can execute a warrant for arrest. It comes back to that point I said before about some of the powers that will be in this bill granted to rangers and conservation enforcement officers. That needs to be very very clear. There are provisions in the bill that could make that even clearer. And then there is an issue around the consent of the Attorney-General. We need to know exactly what it is that the Attorney-General would be required to consent to in any of these activities.Finally the issue of warrantless search powers. This is becoming quite a prevalent thing in New Zealand law. We support this with some reluctance I have to say but none the less if it can be specified exactly where those powers could be exercised and the law is tight enough then it may well be reasonable. I note that Parliament yesterday or last evening passed a bill through another stage which also granted warrantless powers to police particularly with regard to firearms. It seems reasonable then that there should be similar powers if someone is known to be importing illicit drugs or other materials into New Zealand.Our enforcement agencies do a good job in this country with the tools they have available to them. The Customs department do a fantastic job of trying to protect our borders as much as they can but our borders are vast. We need to have a range of tools available to them that meet the needs of today and that enable them to engage in the sort of international collaborations that they're increasingly seeking to do on our behalf for the benefit of the people of New Zealand.So we will support this bill progressing in the House. We'll look eagerly towards the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) that the Minister might bring. I think given the level of support it's appropriate that it is a Minister's SOP that makes the substantially technical changes to the bill that will give a greater degree of surety to those who might have some concerns about some of the powers extended in this bill effectively extending the domestic powers of many enforcement activities in New Zealand into international waters as well.