Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Look another sterling piece of legislation from the Minister of Justice. It's great to see so many good pieces of legislation coming from her watch and also being able to be a part of that on the Justice Committee. These bills had the difficult task of balancing the protection of our national security interests against the fundamental principles of justice and I'd just like to take a moment to acknowledge that there were a number of sharp minds from both sides of this House on the committee who worked really well to ask the right questions of those officials. Vanushi Walters was fantastic in being able to really look at those details. Chris Penk who has just spoken was also really engaged and I do remember Joseph Mooney subbing on to that committee as well and making some really good contributions. It's nice that at times like these when we are discussing critical issues like national security and the fundamental principles of justice we can have a really good discussion from right across the House.These bills implement the majority of the Law Commission's recommendations from back in 2015 when they took a look at how security information is treated in our courts and in administrative decision-making. The question at the heart of that inquiry was what should happen when information is relevant to legal proceedings but disclosing it might also prejudice national security. The Law Commission made a number of observations about current inconsistencies or gaps in the current law. First the current law does not provide enough assurance that national security information can be adequately protected if it needs to be used in court proceedings. This creates a security risk for New Zealand. Also New Zealand's law can have a disadvantage to those people who may not know the reasons for the decision against them. So at that point there are principles of natural justice at stake. The Law Commission recommended legislation to clear up inconsistency in the law and to give all parties a clear process that protects national security information while also maintaining fairness and natural justice. We believe that the bills achieve these objectives and it is good to see these bills reach their third and final reading after the Law Commission first undertook that work seven years ago. They also form part of a suite of measures designed to strengthen the end-to-end justice system to prevent and respond appropriately to terrorism and the supports of the Government's response to the royal commission of inquiry into the March 15 mosque attacks.The reason why we have put these bills forward and why we support them so strongly is that they put in place a coherent and consistent regime for dealing with national security information and proceedings giving clarity and certainty to the use of such information so that we have a clear map going forward for current situations that may arise. Currently there is a lack of assurance that national security information can be adequately protected if it needs to be used in court proceedings. Also the current law may disadvantage as I've already mentioned those non-Crown parties who may not have that information available to them for a decision against them and they may not in fact be in a position to challenge the actions or decisions of the Crown and that's not fair. These bills provide a clear framework for dealing with national security information in both criminal and civil proceedings. The bills will do three main things: provide greater assurance to the Crown that national security information can be used in court proceedings whilst still remaining protected if it needs to be so; secondly it will standardise and clarify protections for non-Crown parties; and thirdly it will ensure clear consistent processes are followed in a way that addresses natural justice requirements as far as possible.These are good bills. We've worked hard to make sure they're returned in good shape. I'd like to acknowledge the work of the Minister of Justice all the committee members and also those officials that worked on these bills. I commend them to the House.