Flavell Te Ururoa: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:658;Page:7121] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora ano tatou katoa. As other speakers have stated a little earlier it is always a bit of a challenge with new legislation like this Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill which comes at us a little bit late in the piece and is perhaps not even up on the parliamentary website to give a really informed perspective on the legislation. Under normal circumstances the Maori Party caucus usually gets enough time to read over the legislation in depth to consult with all sorts of interested stakeholders to consider how kaupapa Maori applies and to benefit from a robust debate. It does not quite happen like that when legislation is introduced under urgency and the whole process becomes accelerated to such an extent that one hardly has enough time to get to grips with the original intent of the legislation much less with amendments such as these being tabled today. 
In the bill before the House we are considering amendments to the Customs and Excise Act 1996 and the Tariff Act 1988—both bills concerned with New Zealand’s border. Now of course all New Zealanders are very familiar with the work at the front line in protecting our country partly through I think the reality shows such as  
Border Patrol 
 which feature on our State television. And there could be no doubt in the House this week of the power of television in being able to educate inform advise and broadcast rugby all at the same time. The behind-the-scenes documentaries expose viewers to the procedures that operate within the areas of immigration customs and quarantine. Week by week there are examples made of the potential issues that can arise at our borders including illegal immigrants harmful pests and disease drug runners and such. So we understand the importance of improving border processing and administration of goods and people as required under the respective Acts. 
But there is a particular feature of this legislation that I feel a little bit duty-bound to highlight and that is the deliberate use of strategic branding to draw attention to issues such as corruption dishonesty and misrepresentation. This bill enters a whole new terminology into the lexicon of the English language—namely that of SmartGate. SmartGate as a brand takes its name of course from the Watergate scandal in American politics. Named for the Watergate office complex in Washington DC it resulted in the indictment and conviction of several officials in the Richard Nixon administration. Watergate has since then become associated with conspiracy theories secret tape-recordings Senate investigations cover-ups and so on. Across the seas we have seen the emergence of derivations of the Watergate theme: there was “corngate” in 2002 involving the suspected release of genetically modified corn seeds. We have had “paintergate” which involved a forged signature on a landscape painting. We have had “speedgate” and so on. Now we have SmartGate. So it is a clever use of branding to immediately bring up an association with crimes involving dishonesty. 
As other speakers have said SmartGate in this case is the name given to a new automated passenger processing system to be used at the border in the place of customs officers. We will of course be interested at the select committee to hear from the Customs Officers Association how customs officers feel about being replaced by these SmartGates and what the costs in real terms will be of the redundancies that might result. The legislation allows for the cancellation of a registered user’s registration to use a Customs Service computerised entry processing system. That is to cover for human error; if the person fails to comply with registration conditions or has been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty then he or she will not be able to enter the computer system. And that sounds pretty good. 
Once the SmartGate has been shut closed this bill introduces a whole range of measures to deal with would-be offenders. The bill creates a power to arrest any person committing an offence punishable by imprisonment under the Act. It establishes a new offence of consciously making a false allegation or report to the Customs Service that an offence has been committed. Through that same clause it becomes an offence to knowingly make statements with the intention of wasting or diverting personnel or resources. So this legislation basically introduces technologies and protocols to strengthen Customs Service law enforcement capability. It will enable customs officers to search a vehicle to inspect goods containers or packages and even to introduce a provision that will require debts to be repaid within 20 days. The other aspect of this legislation is to introduce tariff rate reductions negotiated in international trade agreements and to provide the means by which information on those rate reductions will be available free of charge on the Internet. Those are some innovations that we have some interest in. 
The Maori Party is proud to stand up in the House to speak out against issues of corruption dishonesty fraud cover-ups conspiracies and any such factors that act in ways to diminish the integrity of the Customs Service and the border control system. We will be supporting this bill at its first reading to allow the korero to occur and we look forward to the opportunity for a more extended period of discussion at subsequent stages of this legislation.