SpeechHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Thank you Madam Chair. Look I rise to take the first call on behalf of New Zealand First on this legislation—fairly interesting. I want to thank the Minister of Police for acknowledging New Zealand First's role and making some adjustments to this legislation.Brett Hudson: Very minor. Tiny adjustment.Hon RON MARK: But I do have to on the back of some of the speeches last night address some of the assertions. I'll start with the first one about the complaints around the changes to pest control and the adjustments being made on the back of representations made by the New Zealand First caucus to the Minister and to the Labour team. Mr Hudson might well think that those changes are insignificant. He might well think that it's created a degree of bureaucracy that he thinks is unnecessary. I just say to Mr Hudson being a landowner myself I can tell him of a block of land in Canterbury. I can tell Mr Hudson unfortunately I do get notifications from the regional council which advises me on my pest count. I do get notifications and that document is very useful and will be useful in future for any farmer who's been told by the—Brett Hudson: You shouldn't have to prove a material financial detriment.Hon RON MARK: Mr Hudson listen just listen—listen. Mr Hudson so any regional council writes to a farmer a high-country farmer and advises them that they've conducted a pest count on his property and they've identified that he is in excess of what is permissible and instructed him to move forward and produce a pest management plan. That's what's happening now. What we have done here is made a change that removes a whole bunch of bureaucracy and allows those farmers to actually say Yeah look here's the regional council evidence. Here's the instruction from the regional council telling me I've got to sort out my wallaby count sort out my hares my rabbits sort out my goat count whatever it is. And I'm off now to the police to get a permit to actually buy a restricted firearm so I can deal with this." Because in the high country in Canterbury those ranges you can't deal with it with any other weapon; it has to be a centrefire semi-automatic.Brett Hudson: Sold out the firearms owners. Sold them out.Hon RON MARK: I can only say Mr Hudson amid all your chipping and carping in the wind that Federated Farmers are very pleased. So if that member truly is a supporter of Federated Farmers—Brett Hudson: They won't be. They won't in practice.Hon RON MARK: If that member's truly a supporter of Federated Farmers he should just shut up and listen to Federated Farmers on the radio this morning. Listen to Federated Farmers.And then I'm looking across at Mr McKelvie who seems as always as a former mayor a very rational person. But his presence in the House does remind me of one thing. It's interesting hearing how the National Party who supported the first tranche of firearms legislation is now saying that they don't support this tranche. And it's really interesting the topics that they're pulling out. I'm going to give credit over there to David Seymour because David Seymour has one thing that the National Party doesn't have and that's consistency. Back in 2017—and I've got a copy here for Mr Hudson to take away and read—Kanwaljit Singh chaired a select committee inquiry into how firearms were getting into the hands of gang members. Mr Hudson's team included Ian McKelvie included Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and included Alastair Scott actually. If I look at the list on the back—and I am going to take a little bit and seek another call—included Ian McKelvie Maureen Pugh Lindsay Tisch and Jonathan Young. Here were some of the recommendations: that the law be amended so firearms dealers' licences required to sell or supply ammunition be registered. Registering ammunition that's what the National Party were advocating when they were in Government. Registering firearms that's what the National Government were advocating when they were running the country. The only people who voted against that was New Zealand First and we were lambasted by the National Party for being irresponsible. Brett Hudson: And now they've folded. And now they've folded.Hon RON MARK: "Now they've folded." says Mr Hudson. Who made these recommendations? This legislation contains every recommendation that the National Party put forward and now they're voting against their own recommended legislation.Mr Seymour's consistent—Mr Seymour's consistent. He's going to be in the wilderness in oblivion. All the people who vote for ACT will see him sitting in the Opposition saying consistently the same message. I'll give him credit for that. There's no deviation. The National Party by this record flip-flops like a jandal on Bondi beach doesn't it?Brett Hudson: What about your minority view Ron?Hon RON MARK: It says definition—it wants to alter semi-automatics the access to semi-automatic firearms; effectiveness of licensing and training; criticises it; and then talks about firearms prohibition orders—what happened to that? Never happened. It makes for an interesting read when you look at it. One of the claims in this report that the National Party chaired led supported by the now Minister Stuart Nash—I'll give Mr Nash this credit: what Mr Nash said he was going to do in this legislation he's doing. The National Party supported firearms registration. The National Party wanted it. Ian McKelvie sat on the committee and voted for it so too did Maureen Pugh and so too did Jonathan Young and they took that report of theirs to their caucus which included everybody who's sitting here today—almost everybody—and passed it through their caucus. So all I'll say to the National Party is that you've got your dream—you've got your dream. This piece of legislation does everything that Ian McKelvie and Jonathan Young sitting there—hi Jonathan—said they wanted to do in 2017. So stop playing the games with the firearms owners. Stop playing games with them.And let's talk about New Zealand First. New Zealand First—[Interruption]—well Mr Jonathan Young says that. New Zealand First has always pledged to play a responsible role in Government. We get plenty of accusations from people and we have always supported—for 23 years we fought against National's arms amendment bill No. 2 National's arms amendment bill No. 3 and National's inquiry into arms. We fought against them all. This time we have got one thing that we believe is going to fundamentally change the way firearms legislation is run in this country. We have got into this a promise from the Labour Government. Now we would have liked it Mr Nash—David Seymour: Labour Government.Hon RON MARK: From the Labour team—thank you David. We have got a pledge that in the first months of us coming back to the House if we're in Government we will put legislation on the table. This legislation quite frankly is going to change. I don't know what the hōhā is about. This legislation will change within months of coming into Government as we seek to introduce an independent arms authority which will take over. Wherever you read in this bill right now "the Commissioner" and "Police" that will change.Brett Hudson: You won't be there Ron. You won't be there.Hon RON MARK: Put your money on it—put your money on it. Put your house on it—put your house on it.We will change this legislation in the first few months of the next Government whomever we're governing with. And if the National Party wants to come to the coalition negotiation tables then you're welcome. But we will change this legislation. Labour has committed to changing it. Labour's committed to an independent arms authority removing the functions of writing the law and enforcing it—separating it taking the role and responsibility the issues that Mr Seymour's talking about out of the hands of police: determining who should have a licence and administering those licences.New Zealand First believes that fundamentally the system is broken. It's hard to argue with four Cabinet Ministers and nine MPs and keep a stable coherent reliable responsible Government in the white hot heat of 51 people dead and 50 more wounded and thousands of people—it is hard to argue against that emotion.David Seymour: Oh!Hon RON MARK: It's hard Mr Seymour. Try it when you're in Government. Oh you've never been there—that's right—and never will be.Brett Hudson: Well that's not true.Hon RON MARK: But when we're sitting in coalition negotiations Mr Hudson looking across the line all I'm going to want to hear from Mr Hudson is no more flip-flopping. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Give us the independent arms authority that we seek. Give us that complete review of this legislation the post-implementation review which Mr Nash has committed to which will be done in three years not five to ensure that everything that's said about this piece of legislation the reason that's here is it actually happened. And where we have identified failures we address again. That is our pledge to the firearms owners of New Zealand whom we've always—I'm looking at Hon Judith Collins and I know she's always supported sane sensible firearms legislation. And I know that she will support a post-implementation review of this. I know that she will support an independent arms authority to take over the control—Brett Hudson: He sold them out.Hon RON MARK: —of the firearms administration and the writing of the firearms law of the future. This is not my final contribution Mr Hudson there's more."