Mallard Trevor; Muller ToddFILMS VIDEOS AND PUBLICATIONS CLASSIFICATION (URGENT INTERIM CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLICATIONS AND PREVENTION OF ONLINE HARM) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed from 10 February.SPEAKER: Todd Muller—a five-minute call. TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): Thank you Mr Speaker and—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Can people leave quietly please. TODD MULLER: Yes. Thank you Mr Speaker. I'd like to take a short call on the Films Videos and Publications Classification (Urgent Interim Classification of Publications and Prevention of Online Harm) Amendment Bill. I do hope that the Labour Government was taking note of the conversation that occurred last night because in a very thorough and very comprehensive debate what we saw was that for the first time in this Parliament the National Party the ACT Party and the Green Party all hold the same view that this is extremely poor legislation that has been rushed that hasn't had good thinking and that will end up if it is adopted as it sits in front of us today having a fundamentally chilling effect on free speech. There wasn't a person in this House last night that did not reflect the horror of their shock and experience on March 15th not only in terms of the tragedy in Christchurch for those families and the wider country but also that it was live streamed from Christchurch to the rest of the world. All of us reflected on that natural human reaction that when they see something and hear of something that is so shocking they say there must be a way for this to be prevented. But as we heard in very good contributions from us—the National Party ACT and the Green Party—last night actually within 30 minutes of it being online the major service providers had already voluntarily taken it offline. So the attempt as this legislation is seeking to do to try and legislate a framework with significant pecuniary costs won't work. It technically won't work and as was very effectively traversed last night it has been so poorly written that it will give the Crown through the establishment of a web filter the sole discretion to decide what is objectionable and what is not. When it is truly horrific it classifies itself but when you have a framework—as this Government is proposing—that is subjective it lends itself in time to political influence to poor judgment and a view that someone else's expression is objectionable and therefore should be stopped. We shall walk down this path of State censorship very very slowly and with our eyes wide open and the Minister said it herself when she introduced this bill. She said I expect significant changes to occur." It was as if it was an admission of defeat that actually we had not done the thinking. We had put together a rushed bill that won't achieve its purpose and indeed it is likely to have a chilling effect. When the Government Minister herself acknowledges that there are many holes and she hopes that the select committee will do the heavy lifting for the Government I think it's clear to say that you've missed the boat. It's very very easy for a Government to say in response to a shocked community "We must do something. We need to be showing New Zealand that we're doing something." and so they have the ability to stand up in front of New Zealand and say "We've got this restriction of online live streaming." But the thinking isn't clear the legislation is loose and what it talks to is a lack of focus and a lack of doing the heavy lifting. As National ACT and the Green Party have all in a single voice said this is poor legislation and it has real risks in terms of eroding freedom of speech and the Labour Government has to listen. They can't simply wash their hands of it and say "Well you know it was a good enough effort and let's see what the next six months provides from a select committee perspective." You're the Government—you have nowhere to hide. Own issues that are difficult do the thinking and put good legislation in front of us and we'll consider it but not this lightweight effort that we're reflecting on today. Thank you."