McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I stand in support of the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill on behalf of the ACT Party. I'd like to start off by acknowledging the 143 submitters who came to the Justice Committee at very short notice to represent their customers members and clients of which around about 60000 club members were represented either by written submission or by oral submission from their parent organisation. That of course does not make up for the extra 180000 people who may not even realise that this is happening because it's happening so quickly.And that's really what has occurred with arms legislation bills since 2019—very very short submission periods. In fact the one that we've just had for this bill was 24 hours. In 2019 it was 48 hours and in 2020 it was just a matter of a few weeks. This is how the firearms community has been treated—like they're not worthy of a full submission period like they're not worthy of being heard. But I would like to comment and say that the 143 written submissions that came in in a 24-hour period—I'm very proud of those people for putting pen to paper especially after so many of them have felt harassed for a number of years now. Many of them are wanting to give up on writing submissions they feel that they're not being heard and they also—and quite rightly so—are not happy with the shortened time periods.This bill is about extending licences and I mentioned in my first reading speech how I can't believe I'm actually supporting an arms bill under urgency. But I feel that our arms community have been affected for so many years now that I would like to do something to be able to do something to help them get through the period of Christmas—the upcoming roar in March where those who have not been able to hunt since 2019 can partake again. And I think that this will be exceptional for them and hence the reason why the ACT Party are going to support it.As I mentioned 60000 people out of 240000 that have firearm licences—not that long ago probably about 18 months there were 250000 that had firearm licences we've lost 10000 over a very short period of time. Now I understand that the atrocity that happened in 2019 meant that we had to review what was happening with our licensing. But when we get to the reality of it all the 250000 people at 2019 had gone through referrals had been deemed to be fit and proper people by New Zealand Police and had been issued licences and overnight they were no longer deemed that way. So much so that when their firearm licences expired they were again overnight deemed to be no longer a fit and proper person. And that's sad because this is not their fault. They did not do this. And the organisation the Government agency that should be putting their hand up to say Yeah we mucked up here sorry and we're going to go through a bit of a ride but we'll sort it out and let's do it together" hasn't. In fact so much so that during this bill process which has only been a week in the making we've even had the Minister the Hon Chris Hipkins stand up and still blame clubs for what happened back in 2019.And this will bring me to the email situation when we get to the committee of the whole House because I'm really quite upset about how that clause has been put into this bill and actually has nothing to do with arms licensing at all but is all about the Government agency being able to email people and give them service of notice of any type of document. And I will go into this a bit more but I am worried about time—I've already gone through five minutes. I might do that in the committee of the whole House stage because I think this is very important and I hope the acting Minister the Hon Damien O'Connor is able to answer my questions on the emails I'm just giving the Minister a bit of a heads up there.The reason why we are in this situation is not because of licensed firearm owners it's not because of any wrongdoing of theirs it's not because of the royal commission inquiry recommendations which is what the Government agency had told us it was for; it was because back in 1992 we moved from lifetime firearm licences to 10-year licences. The manager that was in charge of police licensing at the time has recently told me that at that stage they actually thought the curve would flatten. The curve is about the number of people who transitioned from the lifetime licences to 10 years. As my colleague from the Green Party Jan Logie suggested it started in 1992 but it was actually in 1996 when they did this big move. So this peak had been projected back in 2006 2016 and now 2026. It's not new; it's something that they knew was coming. Now they're saying that there is an issue and it's going to get worse—they're quite right. At the moment there are approximately 9000 people that are caught up in the system. By the time we get to 2026 it's expected in that year alone there will be 43000 people trying to renew their licences. Police are unable to keep up with the couple of thousand that they have now. And this is why we are introducing this bill.I'd like to take a moment to thank one of the officials his name is Richard because he did what he could through the select committee process to answer my questions and to verify a lot of things as well. I'd also like to thank the chair of the Justice Committee and my Justice Committee colleagues because you allowed me to have more questions than I probably deserved to have and you allowed me to also speak to a lot to the submitters and I'm very very grateful for that because this has been quite emotional for a number of them. So while I'm being a little bit negative I'm being positive about my colleagues who I've worked with and I'm very grateful for what you have allowed us to do.But this is well overdue and the shortened process—it's totally unnecessary. This bill is about keeping our communities safe. How can we do that when we're talking about firearms which can be used as weapons when we're doing 24-hour submission periods every time we bring in an arms amendment bill? It's just not on.There are a few areas that I do want to touch on but I realise that I am running out of time and I'll probably do that in my 10-minute delivery of my third reading speech and that will be around the online checker of the licensing as well as clarification around the retrospectivity and how police intend to prioritise—and "triage" is what they call it—the licences so that those that are needing to be looked at a little bit closer can be while those that are of no issue won't be.I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to be able to come in here and stand up for licensed firearm owners. This is not the end; this is one of many problems. The clubs and ranges regimes that have just come out are another spectacular problem that has been put on the community and that I'm afraid will see clubs and ranges close. This is where I come back to this bill because the email clause in here actually relates directly to the clubs and ranges regulations that have just come out over the last few days as well and I do want to address that in my 10-minute third reading speech.I just would like to finish off by requesting officials to take responsibility for their part and their play in some of the mess that we're in with firearms law at the moment and to stop blaming the licensed firearm-owning community. Thank you."