Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Mr Chair. I'd just like to reiterate the kind words that Andrew Little said about Ian McKelvie. I think as chair of the Primary Production Committee it was something that Ian McKelvie was fortunate to get drawn out of the ballot. It was a bill that he took through to the committee and I do want to acknowledge that the Labour members on that committee were very helpful—especially Kieran McAnulty—in making that bill actually transition into something we're seeing here today because the bill as it stood was always going to be difficult to get through this Parliament because it was going to be a major amendment to the Crimes Act in the sense of looking at some options around defences or the rationales behind how you would incorporate it. It really came down to this option here—that is the most practical option—and Ian McKelvie to his credit made that happen. He didn't give up on it he found that solution and in the end the Minister made that happen through this bill. So I think it does show that Parliament can actually achieve some things. But the reality is also that it is a bill that the Labour Party would not wish to have not let go through this Parliament because they also wish to see that protection for the provincial communities and if they had denied the bill in the select committee process—which was quite feasible—then there would have been on their heads the fact that they had not allowed some kind of sanction for that kind of crime to be more explicit in our law. So in the end they were forced to do it by good public opinion. Our good MP Mr Ian McKelvie made the most of that opportunity and forced their hand and here we are today seeing it through the House. So a good win to the process and a good use of political judgment by my good colleague. Kiritapu Allan: That's two minutes. Hon DAVID BENNETT: Is there something you're saying over there? Oh yes Kiri Allan was one of the members of that committee as well and I think she needs some credit too. She's a good member of that committee and worked hard with Kieran to actually make that happen as well. I can't remember if there were any New Zealand First members that helped in this process but that's normal for them. Ian McKelvie: Not since Prosser. Hon DAVID BENNETT: Mr Prosser—yes. Well his career in New Zealand First ended well didn't it? You know I think he still wants to come back but they're not making room for him for some unknown reason. They don't like freedom of thought I think is the problem in New Zealand First at the moment and Mr Prosser is not going to have his day in this Parliament again unfortunately due to his speaking out against the almighty leader and the champion of the provinces. CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): And the member needs to come back to the bill please. Hon DAVID BENNETT: Yeah I was just giving some context Mr Chair because it's important that people see that side of the parliamentary process as well because this is a very public part but the private parts that they don't see are quite interesting as well—to look at the context of pieces of legislation—and that's really important. I do note that the Minister had a very interesting approach to the criminal justice field and as somebody who's working in the corrections field it's going to be interesting to see how he actually promotes those changes in people's behaviour. Saying that it's a matter of turning around and teaching to learn—those were his catchphrases in his speech just now. So we're waiting with bated breath to see how that may actually translate into Government legislation and an approach to the issue of criminal justice. The stock rustling aspect is really relevant to communities because one of the things Ian McKelvie raised when we discussed this is we're dealing with small communities where often the rustler is known or will be living in that community and there may be a whole lot of social and other financial reasons why the person engages in that activity but at the end of the day in small communities everyone still has to live together. It's not going to be an offence where you're going to be necessarily in jail for a long period of time generally and that person will be coming back into the community and people will engage and probably have to work and live in the same small area within the small community. It's important that we also recognise that it's not generally a situation where somebody from outside comes in; it's often a case where it's somebody from within that area. So you do need criminal justice policies that do actually enable that person to assimilate back into that community and take a full role.