Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about the Government's programme on firearms reforms. This is a Government who has appointed a gun lobbyist who was elected on a platform of gun reform. That's not being hidden at all.Let's just take a look at the consultation process to date. Part 6 of the Arms Act has already been changed by Order in Council with not so much as even a press release being issued. So what those changes have already done is they have changed the regulations and safety requirements for the sales of ammunition and firearms to be recorded on ranges in New Zealand. Do New Zealanders know about these changes? Have they been informed about this? Has there even been a public statement from the Minister on these changes? The answer is no. They were done by Order in Council at the end of June without anybody in New Zealand being informed. These changes have removed police's oversight and created loopholes for gangs criminals and extremists to exploit on shooting ranges in New Zealand—the very place where the March 15th terrorist practised his shooting skills in New Zealand. This Government has now relaxed the restrictions on shooting ranges without publicly informing New Zealanders about it.Let's talk about police safety because police have been talking a lot about their safety particularly the Police Association but they have been called paranoid" by this Minister—paranoid because they fear the introduction of dangerous weapons once again in New Zealand society.The registry itself: it's unclear what is actually happening with the registry. This morning on Newstalk ZB Mark Mitchell did say "I can assure you as the police Minister the gun registry is going nowhere." Well as Nicole McKee the Associate Minister of Justice responsible for firearms has stated her intention is for those A category weapons to be outside of the Firearms Registry because it would be too expensive and dangerous to have them included in there. When we look at what information is being provided to her as the Minister responsible for firearms we can see that 71 percent of standard A-Cat firearms which are seized by police are from A category.Hon Nicole McKee: How many have serial numbers on them Ginny?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: Interestingly when I was the Minister of Police and I asked about whether a serial number could be read the advice I received back is that ESR can determine the serial numbers of just about every single weapon that's had their serial numbers filed off.So the Minister needs to explain why 50 percent of police investigations in terms of diverted firearms revolve around licensed firearm holders. That is because we have an issue with licensed firearm owners either selling or enabling criminals to access those weapons once they have been licensed. The Firearms Registry is the best place for that to be making sure that we check them.Where is the police Minister on this? We have got a police Minister who is asleep at the wheel in terms of protecting the safety of front-line police officers.When we were in Government we introduced the Tactical Response Model and invested in front-line safety. This was a direct result of the murder of Matthew Hunt and the dangers that our front-line police officers now face. The Police Association have every right to be fearful that Nicole McKee is now holding the pen and rewriting the Arms Act and endangering the front line of New Zealanders because her interests lie with a select group of firearms owners and not with the safety of our front-line police or with our communities. They are a small select group that are being catered to at the absolute detriment of New Zealand's safety.What is the point of a firearms prohibition order what is the point of having all of this investment in front-line safety if we are not strengthening the registry? What is the point if military-style semi-automatic weapons are going to be reintroduced into New Zealand? That is the underlying agenda of the ACT Party. They have made a promise to their voters who increased their numbers in this House from one to 10 from voting against the 2019 changes to our firearms law. They grew their party and they owe it back to those voters. They will be doing everything they can to reintroduce dangerous weapons back into New Zealand to take apart the regulations that control our shooting ranges and to make our front line at risk of dangerous weapons in the hands of criminals."