Tolley Anne: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 04 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7713. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development)on behalf of theMinister of Justice: I move That the Crimes Amendment Bill the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill the Companies Amendment Bill the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Amendment Bill the Customs and Excise Amendment Bill (No 3) the Extradition Amendment Bill the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Amendment Bill the Financial Transactions Reporting Amendment Billthe Income Tax Amendment Billthe Limited Partnerships Amendment Billthe Misuse of Drugs Amendment Billthe Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Billthe Policing Amendment Bill andthe Secret Commissions Amendment Bill be now read a third time. These bills implement a number of measures to strengthen New Zealand’s response to organised crime and corruption both domestically and abroad. Organised crime is a global problem that undermines public safety economic development good governance and national security. Unfortunately New Zealand is not immune to the threat posed by both international and domestic criminal networks which operate on many fronts. New Zealand has strong legislative frameworks in place to obstruct organised crime. However the amendments in the bills will address a small number of gaps in our law and improve the efficiency of existing processes aimed at disrupting the activities of organised criminal groups. Bribery and corruption in connection with international trade are the focus of a number of international conventions underlining the growing recognition that corruption is a substantial barrier for economic and social development. It is now widely accepted that bribery is bad for business creating uncertainty and risk in commercial transactions. Corruption also has negative consequences for a country’s financial stability and economic performance draining resources from more productive economic activities.New Zealand businesses trade on our hard-earned reputation as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. However we cannot rest on our laurels and must continually work to prevent and address the threat posed by corrupt activities. To that end the legislation ensures that our laws reflect the seriousness of this conduct by increasing penalties for bribery and corruption in both the public and private sector introducing new offences and setting out the circumstances in which corporations can be liable for bribery of a foreign public official. The provisions also highlight how important it is for New Zealand businesses to adopt anti-bribery policies and conduct risk assessments and training. To avoid liability under New Zealand’s anti-bribery laws all businesses should have a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption. In addition to the measures in the bills the Government has progressed a number of other initiatives that reflect this commitment. These include passing new legislation targeting match fixing and shell companies formally joining the Open Government Partnership and conducting a review of New Zealand’s extradition and mutual legal assistance laws. Together these measures will enhance New Zealand’s compliance with the OECD anti-bribery convention enable New Zealand to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and send a strong signal that New Zealand values and is committed to maintaining corruption-free institutions.In addition to bribery and corruption the 2011 all-of-Government response to organised crime recognised a number of other areas where New Zealand could further enhance its efforts to tackle organised criminal activities such as money-laundering identity theft and people-trafficking. Money-laundering is an insidious crime that undermines the integrity and stability of financial systems discourages foreign investment and distorts international capital flows. Criminals are now using smarter and more complex ways to disguise the illegal origins of their activities exploiting both the complexity inherent in the global financial system as well as differences between national anti - money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism laws and systems. To combat this New Zealand has recently overhauled its anti - money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism regime meaning that individual firms are now much more aware of the money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks that they face and the obligation to implement compliance programmes to migrate and address those risks. Under the changes New Zealand’s financial institutions casinos and trust and company service providers are playing a much larger role in detecting suspicious financial activity and alerting authorities to this. The legislation expands on the existing reporting regime with new requirements for financial institutions to report international wire transactions of over $1000 and all physical cash transactions of $10000 or more to the financial intelligence unit within the New Zealand Police. We know that criminals use these transactions to launder money and finance terrorism and the amendments will improve our ability to detect and investigate money-laundering and terrorist financing. In addition the legislation amends the existing money-laundering offence to remove unnecessary hurdles to police prosecutions and deter those who exploit the current limitations of the offence.The legislation also addresses gaps in New Zealand’s identity crime framework introducing specific offences that prohibit criminals from selling or distributing unlawfully-obtained identification information or possessing goods intended to facilitate identity crimes such as credit card skimming devices. Other important amendments will enhance the courts’ ability to restrain assets strengthen New Zealand’s human-trafficking offence and provide police with the power to share information including fingerprint information with international counterparts. A further amendment will ensure that DNA data bank information can be provided to assist in criminal investigations and prosecutions overseas. The Government has great confidence in New Zealand’s law enforcement agencies which have a history of successful prosecutions against those who engage in organised criminal activities. However the measures outlined above will improve international law enforcement cooperation and capability enhancing New Zealand’s reputation in the international community. Collectively the amendments in the legislation signal this Government’s commitment to combat organised crime and corruption everywhere on every level. The wide-ranging measures in the bills will ensure that New Zealand has a robust legislative framework that complies with international best practice and augments New Zealand’s reputation as a trustworthy trading partner with strong reliable and corruption-free institutions. I commend these bills to the House.