O'Connor SimonSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): Thank you very much Mr Assistant Speaker. I'm pleased to be taking a call on this Maritime Powers Extension Bill as we now enter its third reading. I'm sure like the member who has just resumed his seat Jamie Strange and along with other members it's feeling all quite familiar because we've spoken on this quite frequently.I apologise obviously to the members of the House and those listening if this is somewhat repetitive. Normally we have weeks if not months in between our speeches—in a sense an opportunity to provide some new material. Why we are repeating if you will ourselves somewhat quickly is because the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee realised along with the various Ministers who have been responsible for this bill that this is an important piece of legislation not only in its own right which I will elaborate on but it's also important that we get it in play as soon as possible.The committee agreed informally—and I might stress why that was important—to expedite or speed this bill through the select committee process. I think it's been recognised from the Government side too that we should keep bringing this up the Order Paper to debate it so that what's been proposed in this bill can come into law very soon and ultimately help with New Zealand's continued efforts along with its Pacific allies and actually allies in the wider world around the stopping of illicit drugs.Why I say it was an informal agreement is it was really important from the select committee point of view that we made sure we did listen to everyone who wanted to be heard and we took the appropriate time to engage with the official advice. As I had mentioned in a second reading speech a couple of weeks ago we received only three submissions on this and they were relatively brief. In fact one was really just two words in agreement with the bill.I just want to put it on the record that while the committee moved very swiftly this was not to rush the process. This was instead to just ensure that we didn't have to slow it down in any way and nor did we just have to wait the sort of requisite six weeks of hearings and so forth.So my thanks once again go to the committee members for their work on this bill. As the member who has just resumed his seat noted the committee works very well—bipartisan even. It's probably tripartisan strictly. There are three parties formally on the committee at the moment and I think we all understood right from the start that this was an important and useful piece of legislation.So again can I acknowledge the Ministers who have been involved with this—speaking later I'm sure. Tim Macindoe—while this was not his legislation it will be something that he was very familiar with. We've then obviously had further Ministers now in Government who have championed this. As has been articulated by previous speakers this is a bill which enables New Zealand not just to stop vessels on the high seas but really and importantly—in fact fundamentally important is the ability for New Zealand to then prosecute those vessels those owners those who were actually bringing the drugs in.As I've highlighted in earlier speeches there's a potential loophole in the current law. I say potential" because it hasn't been tested in the courts and I think the Customs Service rightly don't want to have the potential loophole tested in the courts and that's fundamentally that under various UN conventions such as UNCLOS which is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea New Zealand is able to stop—often the term used is the term is "interdict"—vessels on the high seas be they flagged or non-flagged. So flagged very simply means they'll have the flag of a particular country. We are able when we have reasonable suspicion to stop those vessels and similarly for vessels that have no flag our navy in particular is able to stop those vessels.Again we don't just stop vessels on the high seas or in international waters for no reason. There has to be a certain degree of suspicion. But in cases where we are suspicious of those vessels usually because of intel that's been gathered by the likes of the New Zealand Customs Service we can stop those vessels board and search where it does happen and it happens sadly often enough that illicit drugs precursors are found. There was a question then of whether we could actually prosecute those people under New Zealand law. And so fundamentally this piece of legislation says "Well actually it will be domestic New Zealand law." and if such a ship is interdicted those smuggling the drugs smuggling the precursors—in fact probably any illegal substance or material—can be prosecuted in a New Zealand court of law. So it is I think a very positive piece of legislation.The member who resumed his seat talked about the Pacific. New Zealand has always had a very strong connection to the Pacific—that goes without saying. We happen to be in the Pacific which makes it sort of a non sequitur but we have a very strong relationship. It's been ongoing and continuous and it's good to see that this current Government does continue that. Very little has actually changed. We continue our engagement there but importantly part of this legislation enables New Zealand to engage with its Pacific neighbours. As members will know and understand obviously a lot of those countries do not have large or significant navies. They don't have the intel abilities and the sophistication of the New Zealand Customs Service. So we're out there assisting to protect not only New Zealand's borders and New Zealanders but also our Pacific neighbours. And you think of the likes of Fiji and Samoa and Tonga and in the much wider context of course we engage with the United Kingdom and the likes of France particularly around our military and customs coordination.It's not just about the New Zealand Customs Service but can I acknowledge them for the important work they do. They were very clear to us that we're entering a somewhat busy season around drug smuggling. Hence—well it probably then becomes obvious to the House why we're wanting to pass this legislation now as we anticipate and enter the busy season. Can I thank them for the work that they lead—importantly too acknowledging the Minister of Defence here as I have before and the work of the New Zealand Defence Force particularly the Royal New Zealand Navy. They do a tremendous job and it's their assets which the likes of customs use. And on the side of this but always in full cooperation we have the Ministry for Primary Industries as well. So this is a cross-governmental agency approach and they're doing a fantastic job there.It's really I suppose a fundamental principle which is trying to be applied here. I mean first and foremost making sure that we apply the laws correctly as you would expect but even more importantly it is better to stop these illicit substances these drugs reaching New Zealand shores in the first place. We could arguably just sit here behind our border and see what comes in but actually it's good if we can get out there—in this case in the international waters outside of our exclusive economic zone—and interdict these drugs earlier or importantly if these non - New Zealand flagged ships are in our waters that we can also engage them there. I do know quite rightly that we have already some assets in other countries who are effectively providing intelligence so that we can work out where the drug smugglers are operating from and I think that's vitally important. Basically everything that we can stop coming to our shores is a problem that we avoid.Fundamentally we're avoiding problems that affect New Zealanders because at the end of the day when these drugs come into New Zealand they cause harm. There is no good in these illicit substances and I know there are some in this House who argue simply that these drugs should always be treated as a health issue. I think that's terribly terribly naive. There are health aspects to drug use but there are also criminal aspects to drug use. In fact when you ever hear those who are arguing that we should treat pretty much all drugs as a health issue what they're fundamentally saying is that basically certain individuals should be able to do whatever they want to do without consequence and we—the rest of New Zealand—will have to pay to fix them up. And actually I don't think that's right or just.So in concluding—and it is somewhat breaking the concord of the committee—I am disappointed and they all go quiet for a second. It's the disappointment that New Zealand has not in recent days agreed to join America and most other countries in the global call to action around drugs. I think there's cheap politics at work in that unfortunately because this is not arguably a continuation of the war on drugs but actually a coordinated effort by I think well over a hundred nations led by America to work at stopping the illicit drug trade and particularly doing things very similar to this bill which is "How do we interdict and stop drugs crossing the border?" So sadly it is a missed opportunity there. I don't think it's a great sign of leadership in that regard but I would ask the Government and the Minister in particular to re-look at that to talk to our Prime Minister and say "This should have been signed up to." But I commend the bill at its final reading to the House."