Bridges Simon: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Bridges Simon: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:16238] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 When Parliaments in the future look back at this Parliament they will remember the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. This bill is to customs what custard is to crumble what Barry White is to soul and what John Boscawen is to the ACT Party. So it is with great pleasure and humility— 
Grant Robertson 
: A certain amount of humility. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: —as much humility as I can muster—that I commend this great historic bill. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: At this time of night? 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: Well I want to talk a bit more. Why should one short-change oneself on a bill that is as good as this?  
This bill is about border management which of course is dependent as the Hon Nanaia Mahuta said on effective sharing of information. When we think about what the world needs more of we know that it is effective sharing of information. We need to do that among agencies operating at the border. I can tell members having gone down to the Port of Tauranga and talked with its customs officials how important they say it is to make sure they are sharing information with the other ports all around the country and just how important our borders are. We have seen that in so many areas recently like P— 
Grant Robertson 
: This speech was good at the start. Is the end any good? The middle is not so good. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: I will end where I started actually I tell Grant Robertson. I will get back to those sorts of Churchillian big-picture themes. But I want to delve down into the detail because I think that is something— 
Lynne Pillay 
: You’re a details person. 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: I am; we have talked about this before. I think we need to get into some things when we talk about customs. The first thing is border security in terms of ensuring we do not have criminal activity coming through the ports. P has come through and I have had a concern in the past about its coming through the borders; I think this bill goes towards doing something quite significant about that. That is why I said at the start of my speech that this bill is significant.  
The other thing I wanted to say about this bill is what it will mean—actually that thought has just gone from my head so I think I will keep talking about P. The other thing I say is that National when we think about this bill is focused on preventing the importing of drugs and precursors and other illegal activity at the border. We all know the devastating effect that P is having in communities. One of the things that concerned me when I went to the Port of Tauranga and I talked with the customs officials was the way in which stopping illegal activities coming through the borders is potentially hit and miss. They are not necessarily checking everything and we can understand why they are not. Of course it would be prohibitively expensive and it would be impractical at many levels so there is sort of a random process at best.  
At the core of this very very significant bill we are making sure that information is shared that ports work together and that customs officials work together. I will go through three categories of amendments that the bill deals with. Firstly we are providing for planned information-sharing in the border sector and the implementation of the joint border management system. Secondly we are enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement. Thirdly we are addressing emerging customs and border management issues and providing clarity to existing legislative provisions.  
Having moved from the big picture and the significant things this bill does we then get to the detail: through information sharing and many other things the bill does we see that— 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Simon that note says: “Sit down.” 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: That is right. I just return though to where I was at the start which is saying that one day people will look back on these speeches. They will read this speech and it will read much much better than it sounds right now— 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
SIMON BRIDGES 
: It will sound much much better. They will remember this bill for all these amazing things that it is doing for the Customs Service and the great customs officials all around the country and for life in the cosmos and the vibe in general. This is a very proud moment for this Parliament. I commend this bill to the House.