Sabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18917. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):I will continue where we left off on the commencement date in clause 2 of the Summary Offences (Possession of Hand-held Lasers) Amendment Bill soon to be enacted as the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Act. In terms of the commencement date there are a couple of key points I want to speak to. One of the fundamental things I think was around the education period and the time that was needed particularly for the enforcement agencies.This is a narrow piece of law and it is a narrow field I guess in terms of the likelihood of offending but when it does occur it is very very serious. The police submitted that what they need is an opportunity to carry out training. That is why the commencement date was set at a month—and actually that is quite limiting for the police to carry out training.Typically what they will do and let us bear in mind that they have to do it within 28 days is have a number of training days where the sectional police officers in particular—the front line if you like of the police force; those who are out there in the incident cars—will go through a training process. They will learn what this legislation is about and what the expectation is in terms of how it will be enforced.This is not a punitive piece of legislation. The Summary Offences Act in itself is not something that wields a significant amount of weight. But the point is that the implications of someone using one of these high-power laser pointers maliciously is significant and that fact will not be lost on the police. So in that first 28 days the police will actually have to carry out some training days across what amounts to probably several thousand police officers—the front-line police officers in each police station across the country. What the police will want to understand really is not just the law and what the expectations are and what the ingredients of the offence will constitute but in what manner the police intend to actually police that. I would suggest that they will very much take a proactive informative position on it.That brings me to the next point I want to make about the commencement date and the time allowed for the education process which is that an education process must occur for the general public. So in those first 28 days from the Royal assent what the public has to get its head round is what a high-power laser pointer is as distinct from a laser pointer that may be used—Grant Robertson: A low-powered one?MIKE SABIN: Sorry Mr Robertson?Grant Robertson: As distinct from a low-powered one.MIKE SABIN: Exactly—as distinct from a low-powered one. Of course in the university world this will be a big deal. It will be a big deal because there are a number of people who use these things in the education setting and of course there are many who use them at conferences and seminars and what have you. I would hazard a guess that inside the equipment box of a number of seminar presenters at conferences and so forth are laser pointers. Also there are many people who use these things as toys and many stores that sell them as toys.Chris Auchinvole: Do they?MIKE SABIN: Yes absolutely. Obviously they are going to need to determine as retailers of these products where they land. That is not to say that they cannot sell them but obviously if one falls into the hands of someone who uses it for a malicious purpose then that will obviously be of concern to retailers. So that 28 days from the commencement date provides that opportunity for the general public for those who are commonly using these devices to get their heads round what the expectation is and what is this legislation is actually about. It is not about punishing law-abiding citizens who are going about their lives using laser pointers for legitimate purposes; it is about those who would use them for malicious purposes.Then we have the impact in terms of the workplace. In many workplaces laser pointers are used. In fact in many workplaces lasers are used. So there will be some question that workplaces will have to resolve within that first month as to whether the lasers they are using would constitute high-power lasers if they were actually held and used by hand. In fact in engineering and even on building sites lasers are used. I have used one myself—not well. I have to say that if I laid down a snooker ball on the living room floor it would roll to one corner—disappointingly so. I did use a laser and obviously got that wrong.