Mark Ron; Rurawhe AdrianHon RON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Well it's my privilege to rise on behalf of New Zealand First and say a few words on this bill which only requires a few words. I'd have to say that having been a mayor of a fine council in Carterton for some time at first I looked at this bill and thought there might be some reason to support it. I thought from the perspective of the constituents of the Carterton district that if people were erecting buildings and camping and causing all sorts of troubles in Memorial Square the people the residents of Carterton might object and might think that this bill could be useful. But on further analysis one finds a couple of things. Firstly the current law does give councils the power to remove people who are causing damage who are interfering with other people's right to passage safely who are erecting illegal structures on the property and that leads one to look a little deeper. It's quite astonishing when one looks a little deeper at the report from the Attorney-General. I'm looking at the bottom of page 4 5—4? And I find the signature of the Hon Chris Finlayson Attorney-General July 2017. So I thought to myself having worked very closely with the Hon Chris Finlayson as the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations—I was in the capacity of the lead negotiator on a Treaty settlement—why I found him to be a very honourable chap a very accurate chap very well read—Hon Ruth Dyson: Modest.Hon RON MARK: Modest he is too—very modest. But a person who does understand law—probably why he ended up as the Attorney-General probably. And what does he say about this bill? Well in a nutshell at the bottom of his four-page three-page four-page document it says Conclusion. [24.] For the reasons set out in paragraphs 5-14"—that's not insubstantial is it—"I conclude the Bill appears to be inconsistent with s 22 of the Bill of Rights Act and that the inconsistency cannot be justified under s 5 of that Act." Now if the member who's tabled the bill the member who's put this bill up is doing so contrary to the advice of one of his senior former Cabinet members then why would he put it up? Why would he put this bill up? So one does not have to—Chris Bishop: If that's your standard vote against the teacher bill.Hon RON MARK: Oh Snapchat. Did I hear Snapchat? It wasn't my phone; it's turned off. But—Chris Bishop: You're a grub mate.Hon RON MARK: Ha ha! Look I only say that probably the grubby thing behind this bill Mr Bishop is the intent. So when one thinks of Moutoa Gardens when one thinks of Bastion Point what does one see in common? What does one see in common? Well protests—Māori protests over land. I have my deepest suspicions that this bill is not necessarily targeted in the way this member would have us believe it's targeted; it's targeted at something else in which case I would remind the House of this. Freedom of right of expression and of peaceful protest is something that's ingrained in this society and in this House. We support people's right to protest and demonstrate. And if they are so disempowered that they feel the need to stand and occupy land to make their point then we defend that right. We only put on that a couple of caveats: that they harm no one they harm no one's property and that they peacefully demonstrate and make their point known. Actually if I was to come right the way back to Carterton and consider again the situation I might envisage occurring in Memorial Square you know what I think would happen? Most Carterton people would defend someone's right to express their view peacefully if they felt that that was the only way they could be heard. Thank God it never happened under my time as a mayor. We led a very peaceful law-abiding loving caring district and the council was much loved. I guess that was reflected in the fact that I got re-elected unopposed unlike some people who had to fight tooth and nail and for their sins ended up here in Parliament Mr Yule—and probably regretting every moment of it now. But I would have to say to the member who tabled this bill "Nice try. We know what's behind it. We don't support it." Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I call Brett Hudson on behalf of Jonathan Young in reply."