12. Question No. 12—Foreign AffairsHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National) to the Minister of Foreign AffairsQuestion No. 12—Foreign Affairs12. Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (National) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Does she stand by the Prime Minister's statement we have subsequently sought advice on a specific Russian sanctions bill"; if so when will the Government introduce a specific Russian sanctions bill?SPEAKER: The Hon Grant Robertson.Hon Grant Robertson: It's David Parker online.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Point of order. Mr Speaker I'm very happy to answer on behalf of the Government if that's going to be of any help.SPEAKER: Order! Order! We have obviously had a communication error. I understand that the Deputy Prime Minister is going to answer on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Indeed I am now aware of that! On behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs we are continuing to take advice on that matter and we will introduce such a bill as soon as we are able to.Hon Gerry Brownlee: To the Minister what is your response to reports by The Wall Street Journal on the Government's response to Russia? That "Foreign-policy experts and some lawmakers consider that response to be inadequate and risks creating a perception that New Zealand could become a backdoor for Russian money unable to find a home elsewhere."; and is she embarrassed by how out of step New Zealand is with our traditional security partners?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Minister no. The Minister has herself been in Europe recently discussing New Zealand's response and as the Prime Minister said yesterday has in fact received a very positive view about the fact that New Zealand has been in line with the international community and indeed was one of the first countries to step up in the humanitarian aid space.SPEAKER: A point of order the Hon David Parker participating remotely.Hon David Parker (remote): Thank you Mr Speaker. I have been here throughout question time and as Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs was ready to answer that question so I think there might have been a mistake in the Speaker's office.SPEAKER: Well the Minister is absolutely correct that there has been a mistake. As Speaker I am normally informed of who is answering the question. I was not in this case. I sought advice as to who was answering the question and I used that when I called the Deputy Prime Minister—Hon David Parker (remote): In the circumstances—SPEAKER: Order! Order! We can actually when a Minister enters the Chamber partway through the question that Minister is able to continue answering the supplementaries as if he is the Minister and what will happen from this point on is the Hon David Parker will answer further supplementaries. And to assist Mr Brownlee I will grant him an extra supplementary.Chris Bishop: Point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: Well as long as it is a point of order and it's not disorderly because the member's got that look on his face.Chris Bishop: I haven't even said anything yet! SPEAKER: No well look the member doesn't need to.Chris Bishop: Point of order.Hon Member: Point of order.SPEAKER: No Chris Bishop has the call.Chris Bishop: I was trying to assist the House in the spirit of bipartisanship. We're in a slightly unusual situation here where we have the actual Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Chamber albeit virtually. I put it to the House and put it to you sir that the simplest thing to do would be to actually just start again because it's clear the Deputy Prime Minister—with the greatest respect to him—did not anticipate that he would have to answer those questions. He did a manful job in the circumstances but we actually do have the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Chamber. So why don't we just put all that behind us wipe it from the record and start again.SPEAKER: OK. I'm going to seek the leave for us to start this question again. Is there any objection to that process? There appears to be none. We'll start the question again but of course Mr Brownlee you won't get that extra supp.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: The member might lose—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Well no I'm not going to try and antagonise you.SPEAKER: The Hon Gerry Brownlee a point of order.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I'm simply making the point that the extra supp was granted because of the inconvenience around this whole question. It is a serious issue and when I was asking questions—I asked two questions to the Minister who was standing in—they were tailored largely understanding that that Minister wouldn't have some of the understanding the other one does.SPEAKER: And I just work back: the member's got all the supps he started with. All right? I'm not taking any off the member; I'm just not granting him any extras. And if it is such an important matter then the Opposition might have saved more than two supps.Hon Gerry Brownlee: We've got three.SPEAKER: No—two. The Hon Gerry Brownlee ask the question.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Does he stand by the Prime Minister's statement "we have subsequently sought advice on a specific Russian sanctions bill"; if so when will the Government introduce a specific Russian sanctions bill?Hon DAVID PARKER: As the Deputy Prime Minister has already said of course we stand by the Prime Minister's statements and the actions that New Zealand immediately took to both condemn the Russian invasion and introduce the sanctions that have previously been listed on a number of occasions in the House. The member will be aware from the email that was sent to his office earlier today that the Minister of Foreign Affairs intends to take a proposed bill to Cabinet on Monday to enable further sanctions on Russia and I'm pleased that the member has accepted the invitation for a briefing on that legislation that briefing being scheduled for the day after tomorrow.Hon Gerry Brownlee: If as the Prime Minister has said the Deputy Prime Minister has said and the Minister himself has said New Zealand has responded very very positively and been well regarded for our response why then is there a need for this bill?Hon DAVID PARKER: Because the breadth of sanctions that are enabled currently under New Zealand law are not as broad as those which we want to impose against Russia. The legislation will include a number of categories of further sanctions the detail of which will be discussed with the member in the briefing but they will include the possible freezing of assets from named Russian individuals or others supporting the Ukrainian invasion.Hon Gerry Brownlee: How will any of those provisions just mentioned by the Minister differ from the provisions that would have been available had the House chosen to pass the Autonomous Sanctions Bill late last year?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well that's not the problem with the Autonomous Sanctions Bill. The problem with the Autonomous Sanctions Bill is that it has wider ramifications than Russia as we discussed yesterday. So if there is to be a wider autonomous sanctions bill we as a Government would want to consider whether it should be broader than the member's bill because his bill currently excludes foreign interference cyber-security issues and human rights concerns such as Magnitsky sanctions none of which are in the ambit of his bill but would need to be considered in wider legislation."