Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Madam Speaker is mine a 10-minute or a five-minute call? Ten minutes. Thank you Madam Speaker.Madam Speaker I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to take a call on the second reading of the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Bill. I must say that was a bit of a strange call from the member opposite around a petition which came to a select committee back in 2019. Not a lot of detail about that petition some people didn't turn up but the point is: it wasn't a bill going through Parliament. This is a bill which is going through Parliament and the process which we follow when legislation goes through Parliament is we put it to a select committee. Sometimes we only put it to a select committee for a few days or a few weeks—standard time is six months. This isn't even going to a select committee for one minute it's being rammed through this Parliament as the number one priority for this Government after the election which they won. The number one issue that they are ramming through this Parliament is the Drug and Substance Checking Legislation Bill.I wonder how many New Zealanders out there are actually wondering whether this is their number one priority for our country at the moment. Because when I was campaigning up and down my electorate in Pakuranga I didn't have one single person come up to me and say The number one issue that needs to be solved is we need to legalise pill testing at music festivals. That's what I want you to go down to Parliament for; that's what needs to be done." I didn't have queues out the door of my office this Monday when I had my constituent clinic of people saying "Simeon when you go to Parliament this week can you please pass legislation to legalise pill testing?" There wasn't one single person saying that this Monday morning at my constituent clinic but this is the Labour Government's number one priority coming into this term in Parliament. And let's not mistake it it's the Labour Government's number one priority because they control the majority in this House. For the first time under MMP the Labour Party controls the majority in this House. So the Labour Party and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's number one priority coming into this Parliament is to make drug testing of drugs legal in New Zealand. I would've thought it would've been something to do with COVID-19. I would've thought it would've been something to do with addressing the issues facing our country with the pandemic.Barbara Kuriger: Housing.SIMEON BROWN: I would've thought it might've been to do with housing the Resource Management Act that's right or the issues facing our agriculture sector law and order all of those important issues—the health system—which matter to New Zealanders. Here we are facing a piece of legislation to simply legalise drug testing so that people can get their drugs tested before this summer's festivals. Well surely this could have gone to a select committee and been considered prior to that actually taking place.The bill will not reduce harm. We've heard lots of arguments—well not arguments. We've heard lots of slogans. "This will reduce harm—this will reduce harm." It doesn't matter how many times you say it it doesn't prove it. Actually we want to see the evidence. At a second reading we're meant to be considering the submissions from submitters. And as Dr Shane Reti outlined from the departmental statement the only people consulted on this issue has been KnowYourStuffNZ the organisation which does and has an interest in this issue. No one else in New Zealand has had their views taken into account and the departmental statement doesn't even articulate the view that this will even work or that there is any evidence that this will actually work.When we look overseas and we do look at the evidence around the world we do not see that this will reduce the harm caused to young people because the reality is that the drugs which are being tested are harmful. The argument getting put across is that these drugs are full of impurities and if only we can find out those impurities young people won't take them. Well the reality is that the drugs themselves are dangerous. Ecstasy is a dangerous drug. The evidence we see from Australia where they examined 392 ecstasy deaths between 2001 and 2016 found that none of those deaths came from impurities or contaminants in the ecstasy drug. The deaths came from the ecstasy or from people taking ecstasy with alcohol or cocaine or another substance. That is the evidence that we see. So by testing the drug or testing it multiple times you're only going to find out that it's ecstasy and that ecstasy is dangerous and we need to be telling our young people it's a dangerous drug which kills people and that they shouldn't be taking it. It is illegal.The other issue in this is around dosage. It's one thing to test it and say "This has X Y Z substances." It doesn't tell anybody anything about dosage in the amount of drug that they have. It simply tests for what type of substance might be in there. And dosage is important because dosage will make a difference because people's bodies will react differently to different drugs in different quantities of drugs. This bill does not address that very important issue.We've just had a referendum in New Zealand in regards to drugs. We've just had a referendum on the topic of whether we should be legalising marijuana. The decision made by New Zealanders is that they did not want to see drugs being legalised. But the people now coming to this Parliament to push through this bill seem to have some sort of Trumpian way about them where they don't want to accept the will of that referendum and want to instead bring this through as the consolation prize for the people who voted Yes to marijuana. This seems to be the agenda which is being brought here today.So what should be done? What should we be looking for in New Zealand? What are the things that we should be looking for and what would be talked about at a select committee? We'd be talking about drug rehab. Have we got enough drug rehab spaces in New Zealand? Do we have enough addiction treatment services across our country to help young New Zealanders who are facing addiction to these types of drugs? These are the issues which we would have been able to address if this bill had actually gone to select committee. We would have been able to look and examine as to whether the Government's $1.8 billion that they've put into our mental health and addiction services is actually having an impact and whether it's delivering the services that we need to help reduce the harm of drugs in New Zealand. We'd be able to hear from the public and hear their perspectives on this issue. But are we able to have that conversation? Are we able to stand here at this second reading and have that debate and debate the evidence to and fro? No we can't because it's been rushed through under urgency without being able to have that conversation.So the National Party will be opposing this piece of legislation and is deeply disappointed that this has not had the opportunity for New Zealanders to be able to have their say so they can put their input in so that this Parliament can look at the evidence fully and have a full debate on it at the second reading. We will oppose this legislation. Thank you Mr Speaker."