Woods MeganHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): This is a bill I'm proud to rise in support of but it is in circumstances that I would have given anything to avoid. The horrific attack on 15 March on two mosques in Christchurch has broken hearts and wounded spirits across the country. It has changed us. New Zealand has united in its grief in its solidarity with those attacked and in our determination to never let anything like this ever happen again. The bill that we begin passing today is a way of making that determination tangible. Since 15 March we have seen an outpouring of love and compassion and support for the victims who lost their lives for families who lost loves ones and for the Muslim community who were targeted because of their faith. Our country's response has filled me and I think everybody in this House with pride. We've seen rivers of flowers the enormous crowds at the vigils and the haka. All these acts of kindness and solidarity have been a powerful symbolic expression of the solidarity New Zealanders feel with the fact that as our Prime Minister has said they are us. We have seen powerful expressions of that feeling from right across the country but today is the day that we write that solidarity into our books of law. It is our role as legislators to ensure that these acts of kindness and compassion are not just symbolic ephemeral tokens but are translated into lasting practical change by this House. So today we take the concrete action to prevent attacks like this in the future. Today we begin the process of banning the weapons used in that horrific attack. Today we start to make our country a safer place for the future. This was a monstrous attack on innocent men women and children who were doing nothing more than going about their daily lives as they expressed their faith and as they knelt in the silence and serenity in their place of worship. They should have been safe here. The Al Noor Mosque is located on Deans Avenue in Riccarton in my electorate of Wigram. I know this community well. This is a community that I have formed a relationship with over time. These are my neighbours. This is a community that has gone out of its way to welcome me and has only ever made me feel loved and accepted a community that has welcomed me to their Eid prayers and to their celebrations and to see this community so hatefully targeted on the basis of their religion with such shocking violence is evil. Last week I attended the burial of one of the victims. To stand by that grave alongside a family was hugely confronting. I will never forget the feelings of intensity of the grief and seeing the horrifying spectacle of mass graves as I did. I simply could not understand how someone could visit such hate and horror on innocent loving people like this. But what I do understand is this: as legislators we have a responsibility to keep this community and all New Zealanders safe. This is not too fast; this is what leadership looks like. We have a responsibility to the 50 lives that were lost to make sure this country is a safer place for all New Zealanders in the future. We have a responsibility to the memory of people like Husna Ahmed who escaped that mosque and was killed when she ran back to look for her husband Farid—a couple who live only a few metres from my electorate office. We have a responsibility to the memory of 49 other human beings who were killed on 15 March; and we have a responsibility to everybody in this country. We have that responsibility and I am proud that we are acting on it. With the passing of this bill every weapon used by that terrorist will be banned. We are banning all military-style semi-automatics with assault rifles that are designed to kill people. This legislation is not directed at the vast bulk of law-abiding gun owners especially those in rural communities who use .22 calibre rifles for farm work and hunting. We are mindful that some guns serve legitimate purposes in our farming and rural communities and have therefore set out exemptions for .22 calibre rifles and shotguns commonly used for duck hunting. These will have limitations around their capacity. It is entirely reasonable and proper that we should do this but we are very clear that owning a gun in New Zealand is a privilege and not a right. We strongly believe that the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand will understand that these moves are in the national interest and will take these changes in their stride just as they did in Australia when similar changes were made there. An amnesty will be put in place for weapons to be handed in and people will have till the end of September to do so. Even people who have semi-automatics illegally will be covered by this amnesty. Our focus is simple: it is getting these guns out of the community and we will work with the owners to make sure that that happens in an orderly way. We have determined that it is only reasonable that people should have access to a fair buy-back scheme. There will definitely be a fair buy-back scheme—we are committed to that. The exact details are still being worked through but it will be similar to the Australian scheme that saw people receive a fair price for their guns. I am pleased that this move is so widely accepted and supported. I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my colleague the Minister of Police Stuart Nash for the speed with which he has worked on this legislation. I'd also like to acknowledge the leadership of our Prime Minister who only hours after the attack was talking about the need for us to reform our gun laws. It is with the full support of the Government parties—Labour New Zealand First and the Greens—joined by the National Party Federated Farmers Fish & Game and hunters and fishers and others that have come to support this and I would like to also acknowledge the Opposition. This is the kind of day when Parliament can be at its best and we appreciate the support. The public will have a say. We encourage people to submit to the Finance and Expenditure Committee and we are open to hearing technical issues with the application of the legislation in order to iron out any problems that may be there. So these changes that we are making today are reasonable. They are thought through and they are the right thing to do. These changes are also timely. These changes need to be made. These are changes needed to ensure that our communities are safer that those who wish to cause New Zealanders harm cannot get their hands on weapons of war designed only to kill and maim and that those that want to weaponise their hate cannot get their hands on these weapons of war.These changes that we are beginning the process of making today will protect innocent people. They will change lives and they will save lives. The changes that we are making today are the most proper and fitting service that we can make to the memory of those who lost their lives on 15 March. This bill is the tangible expression of the sentiments of kindness and aroha and determination we have seen from our nation in the past two weeks. It is a promise on behalf of the people of New Zealand to our communities and to our future generations. The promise is this: together we will make New Zealand a kinder safer country. This bill is an important part of doing that. I commend it to the House. Thank you.