Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): The National Party will be showing its agreement with the motion when the vote is called later in the afternoon. The one thing that can't be lost in the politics of passing a bill like this is the recognition of the extreme suffering that so many people in the Ukraine are currently enduring the huge movement of people out of that country terrified for their futures and the largest movement of refugees seen in a single event in the world. By the end of this week it's expected that some 2 million people will have chosen to leave the Ukraine but that still leaves over 50 million people who are potentially suffering the tyranny of Vladimir Putin's Russian boots upon them and there will be over a long number of years I suspect the need for humanitarian assistance in that country. We certainly hope they prevail. But the situation that presents itself at the moment is a difficult one for the entire world. As soon as Mr Putin brought out the nuclear card and made a suggestion that he may not hesitate to use that sort of weaponry—that put the whole world on notice. So we have a situation here where while military intervention might be something people call for might be something that people wish was happening we should recognise that New Zealand is not in a position to participate in that sort of action unless it is partnering alongside someone else and that's just not on the cards at the moment. So that leaves us in a position of having to try and cripple the Russian economy to make the cost of waging this war so hard on the Russian regime and frankly on Russian people who support that regime and we can only do that through a range of sanctions. I wish that we had had standing legislation that would allow us to be in a position of having gone to that position two weeks ago when with respect to the Government they were saying that we didn't need that that there were other methods that could be used. The Prime Minister as little as a week and a half ago was insisting on that. But I do respect the fact that Nanaia Mahuta has engaged with other countries' Foreign Ministers and has come home to New Zealand and said Right we need to do this." That is a mark I think of leadership and I acknowledge her for that. I would say that while she was generous enough to mention that some of this bill is similar to the bill that I brought into the House last year and was rejected by the Government there is at least one insightful journalist a very capable journalist Sam Sachdeva in fact—I think one of the foremost journalists operating in the press gallery at the moment—who has done a little bit of an analysis and decided that some 83 percent of this bill is identical to the bill that I introduced last year. Now all that really points to is that there is a massive desire on the part of this Parliament and through the efforts of the Government to send a strong message to the international community that we stand alongside them in wanting to exercise some of the sanctions that are going to put significant pressure on Vladimir Putin. In the end it's sad that you've got all that upset of life that disruption the death the pain the horrible human circumstances that he is inflicting on the people in the Ukraine that will to a lesser extent be felt by some of his own people as a result of some of these sanctions. That is a natural consequence unfortunately of the unprovoked aggressor action that Mr Putin has decided to lead.In the last couple of days there have been various diplomatic efforts to try and sort this out discussions between Ukraine officials and Russian officials but repeatedly when there have been some agreements made particularly about safe passage and temporary ceasefires the Russian side seem not to have got the message through to the people on the end of the guns and that is a problem. When it comes to diplomacy there is a need for basic respect there is a need for an understanding and trust that whatever agreement is reached will be exercised by either of the parties. It's useful I think that the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has had a face-to-face talk with Mr Putin. The world cannot be in a position of saying he was shut off and no one talked to him and therefore we accept the consequence of this. There is a need to constantly state directly to that man that his regime undertaking this sort of action is unacceptable to the whole world.There are many views that are put at a time like this. Remember that this bill is specific to Russia and the Ukraine conflict. It will mean that sanctions can be brought against countries who support Russia in their actions against the Ukraine. But there are those who say "Well there should have been a longer process in this." that this bill should have gone to a select committee it should have had a wider consideration. I think we're too late getting here already.I received a very interesting commentary today from Matt Robson a former deputy foreign Minister from some time back who suggested exactly that that we take more time over it suggested that we learn some of the history that we have greater consideration of the arguments from either side. But doing that is a sort of finger-twiddling exercise while so many people are dying and while the Russian economy is at a point where it could be seriously so impacted that the war effort could be at least dampened down a bit seems to me a somewhat uncaring position to mention. There are those who say "Well we should continue to support the multilateral approach." that we should continue with the efforts of diplomacy through the United Nations and other bodies. Well as the Minister herself has said the United Nations Security Council arrangement with its veto available to the five permanent members leaves us in a very awkward position and therefore it is necessary for us to have our own law that allows us to work outside that. Who would have thought that at a time when one of the five permanent members of the Security Council chooses to invade another nation without provocation when the debate came at the United Nations about some kind of censure or sanction against that aggressor nation the member who has perpetrated this particular act Russia sits in the chair at the moment of the United Nations Security Council? That is almost a comical sort of situation to be in. So yes the 141 countries to the 5 voted in favour of condemning Russia's actions but that's where it stops. So today with this bill we join with other like-minded countries in being able to exercise some of the sanctions and I hope all of the sanctions that others think necessary to slow down that Russian war effort. It will mean that we can sanction banking activities. We can effectively ensure that New Zealand does not become a safe haven for ill-gotten gains from those who might have profited out of the regime of Vladimir Putin. And I hope that our investigations in that regard are extensive. The bill allows for regulations to be brought down that give effect to sanctions. So the bill is just like a vehicle if you like for being able to achieve these sanctions. It would be my hope that there is some cross-party discussion about the extent of those sanctions and that there are not too many limitations put on them. But I just say I spoke before about the fact that everyone loses here. The Ukrainian people at the moment suffering as they are it's inexplicable to reach a simple definition or a simple explanation for how they might be feeling; simply to say that they have our huge sympathy and hopefully empathy. But it will affect Russians as well. And in that regard I'd make the point that we have seven fishing boats operating in New Zealand with Russian crews. Most of those crews are Ukrainians and they only hold a dual passport because of the conquest of the Crimea. And so we've got to be somewhat discerning when it comes to those situations. Innocent people should not suffer unnecessarily but innocent people are suffering unnecessarily because of Mr Putin's actions. And that's one of the reasons why this bill is going to get such wide support across the House. Thank you."