SpeechHon TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm delighted to take a call on this bill and to express my wholehearted support for it. Could I acknowledge the bill's sponsor the fine young man on my right at the moment the member for Clutha-Southland. I think he's been here for 12 minutes and he's had two members' bills pulled in that time. I've been here for 12 years and I'm still waiting. So I must admit I am jealous but I really want to endorse this bill. I believe it covers a very serious issue and I'm disappointed to hear the member who's just resumed her seat Clare Curran suggest that the reason for opposing it is that the work hasn't been done and I hope I'll be able to dispel that. In fact that was an argument that was also raised by the New Zealand First speaker more than three months ago now this debate having been interrupted because of the COVID lockdown. It's probably a good idea if I do reiterate some of the key points for the bill because I think it's really important. I'm very sorry that I'm no longer a member of the Justice Committee that would get to hear the bill if it attracted the support of the other parties.It is dealing with a very serious issue and that is the menace in our society that is posed when people who are frankly very thoughtless very stupid and who act in a very dangerous way use laser pointers to try to get into the eyes of pilots those who might be operating in control towers at airports those who could be in the police helicopter those who could be operating one of the other helicopters that we rely on for our health service and so forth. The idea that those people who are doing such vital work could be put in danger is abhorrent in itself. But then when you think about the fact that if they're flying a plane every member of the crew and every passenger on the plane and everybody in the flight path is also put at risk if that particular act of utter stupidity results in a crash is beyond belief. That is why I just cannot understand why members opposite are not prepared to support this bill.Now I was here when my very dear friend the former MP Cam Calder introduced his member's bill which was the forerunner to this bill. Of course what Mr Walker is now doing is seeking to increase the penalties. We've heard from members of the Government that they shouldn't support the bill because it hasn't so far worked. Well I would suggest to you that there's plenty of international evidence that other countries take this issue far more seriously and so should we. The fact that the incidence of these attacks has continued to accelerate at a rapid rate should alarm all of us and should mean that we should thoroughly endorse Mr Walker's call for penalties that set sufficient deterrents to have an impact on those who might think that this is a bit of a joke just a silly thing that they should do one day.Mr Ball the New Zealand First MP when he spoke more than three months ago tried to suggest that this is a bill that isn't necessary because the penalties are already in place. Well I want to remind him that section 270 of the Crimes Act 1961 would be amended by this particular bill to make explicit that interference with a transport facility includes using a high-power laser pointer to reduce the ability of aircraft crew to perform their duties. So his idea that this bill didn't in any way cover that is confounded by the fact that it's in the explanatory note on the first page of the bill. Unfortunately I haven't got time to go through all of the contributions that other Government speakers made but I'm really disappointed that Labour the Greens and New Zealand First have all shown that they are not willing to support this bill.We had a particularly sarcastic and frankly ludicrous contribution from the former secretary of the Police Association the member for Ōhāriu who was sarcastic and disparaging. He said Oh [well if only life was that] simple that we simply could solve a problem by doubling a sentence." He went on to say "The [statement] was made 'They're getting away with murder.' Well I think that probably to say the least would be overstating [some] things somewhat." and other bizarre comments. He failed completely to address the fact that this is about sending a message that this activity is very dangerous that it is happening at an increasing rate that we are all at risk that if you have a laser pointer flashed in your eyes you're not only momentarily blinded it can cause headaches it can have a long-lasting effect and imagine being a pilot flying a plane in those conditions.I commend all of the speeches that were made by National Party members of the House on this bill. I think they are very good. I'd invite people to go back and read the fine speech that Mr Walker made in introducing the bill and that the Hon Mark Mitchell and that the Hon Nick Smith all made. They are very good speeches setting out why this is such an important bill. I have no hesitation in supporting it and I urge Government members to think again about what damage they potentially will do if they fail to vote for it tonight. Give it a chance to go to select committee at the very least."