Willis NicolaNICOLA WILLIS (National): I rise to speak on the Maritime Powers Extension Bill at this its first reading with National in support. Before I speak on this bill I do want to acknowledge our new colleague Dan Bidois who gave a wonderful maiden statement this afternoon and it has been a pleasure to be able to celebrate his entry into the House—and in fact to have Minister Ron Mark as well comment on the contribution he will make.I in speaking about this bill also want to acknowledge former National Party Ministers—in particular Tim Macindoe and Nicky Wagner—who had a hand in bringing this legislation to life. It is a sign of the goodwill of this House that we do have a tradition of this sort of legislation shifting from one Government to the other where it is to the benefit of New Zealand. If only Labour could see fit to do that with a few more bills which New Zealand could benefit from.Now what this bill does of course is empower the good people of the New Zealand Customs Service. It is very important that where we have people who we are putting into enforcement roles on behalf of New Zealand we ensure they have clarity over the powers they have the jurisdiction in which they can use them and the circumstances under which those powers are lawful. There is nothing worse than being someone in possession of powers that are vague or ambiguous because this means that expectations are unclear and people aren't sure about what actions they can take. In this instance the bill makes powers explicit giving additional options to disrupt drug-smuggling and establishing clear jurisdiction over offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.It goes without saying and has been acknowledged by previous speakers that drugs are a global issue. They're not an issue that New Zealand can overcome by acting alone; we have to act in cooperation with other nations. It's here that we see in this bill a very good working example of New Zealand being a member of a rules-based international order in which we seek to cooperate with other countries through international conventions to ensure that rules that are to the benefit of people across the world can be enforced.In reflecting on that it's appropriate that we have come from a GLOBE-NZ conversation this afternoon where we have had members of the House across the Parliament talking about how the international rules-based order applies when it comes to climate change legislation. Here we can see that in New Zealand we are giving effect to our rights and obligations under article 108 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Of course that these conventions are in place and that we as a good State actor adopt them shows I think the relevance of the UN continuing throughout the world. Similarly it allows for the adoption of article 17 of the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances—the drug-trafficking Act.Now of course the reason this is necessary is that we have a difficult context and it is good to hear the acknowledgment by the Greens speaking just now that drugs illicit drugs do considerable harm in our community. It is therefore to the dismay of us all I am sure that the number of attempts to smuggle drugs into New Zealand and past our maritime border have increased significantly in recent times. We know that behind these efforts are transnational criminal groups and of course they are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to bring illicit substances into New Zealand. It's therefore appropriate that we update our law to ensure that just as those criminal groups become more sophisticated our enforcement agencies have clear and unambiguous jurisdiction with which to go against them.So with this bill the customs agency has an enhanced tool kit that will allow them to fight against those international drug traders. The clear framework is really explicit about how customs can stop and in what circumstances how they can board vessels and under what circumstances and how they can search those vessels and then what enforcement actions they can take. And of course it's very important that those are set out in law so that there aren't questions after the fact about whether or not actions have been appropriate or not. The rules apply in both New Zealand's territorial waters and in our contiguous zone. Of course they allow for reasonable cause to be established and flag States have to have authorised the implementation of these laws.In a sense we could say that this piece of legislation allows for more preventative action by the New Zealand customs agency and that is because it allows our customs agents to respond before a ship has entered New Zealand's territorial waters. That's significant because having that made explicit means that customs can make better operational decisions about when enforcement action would best occur and most efficiently occur. Of course the bill also allows for enforcement action to be taken after a vessel leaves New Zealand's waters and again this is significant because in some instances evidence may only come to bear or become clear after a ship has left New Zealand's waters and after smuggling activity has occurred.So ladies and gentlemen we are in agreement across the House today I think that illicit drugs do considerable harm in our community. We want to reduce the amount of illicit drugs coming on to our shores. This bill empowers the good men and women of the Customs Service to take better enforcement action and makes New Zealand once again a good actor within the international rules-based order and we commend this bill to the House.