Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:14050] 
KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National) 
: 
 It is my privilege to participate in the first reading debate on the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. This omnibus bill expands the range of requirements to maintain the sharing of information across border sector agencies. To that end the Government is investing $70 million in new systems to administer border management. 
There are enormous risks to New Zealand associated with harmful pests and diseases. To counter this we need a system that is responsive to change that is cost-effective for users and that involves everybody doing their bit to manage the risk. Our aim is to get the balance right between managing biosecurity risks and minimising unnecessary effects on trade and travel. We need to protect our borders. We need to develop and use profiles that use a variety of information sources including compliance history. Those profiles will be used to target our resources at the goods pathway and supplies and importers that present the highest risk. For example we propose to focus on parties with poor compliance history and to increase intervention. That could mean increased inspection mandatory treatment or additional offshore requirements. The proposed joint border management system within the Customs Service will play a vital role in that process by providing the computer power needed to gather store and access the information required to operate the profile-based approach. 
The first set of amendments enables the New Zealand Customs Service to manage and access the sharing of that information. These amendments will develop a statutory information-sharing framework to enable the Customs Service to manage the access and sharing of its information across a range of agencies support shared access to that information by the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry under the joint border management system and provide a legal framework to support an internal information-sharing project between the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 
Another major problem affecting our country is the illegal importation of prohibited drugs especially the trade of methamphetamine. The tracking of illegal drugs through the new joint border management system is essential to prevent those drugs making their way on to our streets thereby giving criminal gangs the ability to distribute drugs into the neighbourhoods of our country. The Government is providing $5.9 million to the Customs Service over the next 2 years to fight the illicit drugs trade by intercepting those drugs before they reach our borders. 
The Hon Damien O’Connor just mentioned that a new fee is being implemented by the Customs Service. That is not true. Even if people exceed the limit of $700 they will not have to pay any fees when they arrive in this country. 
The Customs Service has been carrying out an excellent job so far with 2008 being a record year for intercepting the precursor to P and 2009 exceeding the 2008 figure by 66 percent. That has saved an estimated $138 million of potential harm to our community. The National Government intends to do all in its power to stop the illegal trade of drugs in New Zealand. I commend the bill to the House. 
Bill read a first time.