10. Question No. 10—PoliceHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 10—Police10. Hon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa) to the Minister of Police: Why are firearms prohibition orders still not in place despite Police recommending them in October 2017?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Justice): on behalf of the Minister of Police: Talofa Mr Speaker. On behalf of the Minister of Police since taking office this Government has established the strongest firearms control regime in our country's history. We have banned military-style semi-automatics we have bought back over 60000 prohibited firearms and magazines we strengthened the fit and proper person test toughened licensing rules and introduced new penalties under the Act. This Government has also legislated for a new fit for purpose firearms registry which has been fully funded and is now under development. On top of that we will pass the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill which will be reported back to this House in August of this year. In the wake of the March 15 attacks we prioritised these measures appropriately and we stand resolute on our record on arms control.Hon Mark Mitchell: What does she mean when she says The effect of the FPO will be tougher" given it does not have or include warrantless search powers?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I think the member might want to have paid attention to previous answers around warrantless search powers. The Minister has made it quite clear that the Search and Surveillance Act has allowed the police to undertake over 700 warrantless searches as part of Operation Tauwhiro. It's already happening.Hon Mark Mitchell: So what is the legal test currently required for a search to take place in the Government's Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I think under the search and surveillance regime there there has to be a suspicion that firearms might be present or the suspicion of that. I notice the member was asking where the firearms protection orders are. As I've mentioned to the member that bill will be presented back to the House in August of this year. I'd also point out to that member that the previous National Government promised firearms protection orders twice in 2014 and 2016. It had nine years in order to do that and they got nothing. I can guarantee New Zealanders that in August of this year—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Minister has definitely answered that question.Hon Mark Mitchell: Did the Government ever vote down any National Party members' bills around firearms prohibition orders (FPOs)?DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm not sure the Minister has responsibility for that.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: In some of those instances the member who was responsible for those bills didn't do their homework. Despite being helped by the select committee that bill continued to fail to meet the mark but again I'll remind the House of the National Party's record on this. Back in 2014 when Michael Woodhouse said that officials were providing advice by the end of the year on options around firearms prohibition orders what happened? Nothing. And back in 2016—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!Hon KRIS FAAFOI: —when Judith Collins said firearm protection—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!David Seymour: The Government—DEPUTY SPEAKER: No—I'm still standing. The Hon Kris Faafoi will stand withdraw and apologise first. Then I'll take the point of order.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I withdraw and I apologise.David Seymour: The Government has no responsibility for voting on a member's bill and certainly not for any of the attacks on another party that we just heard from the Minister. He sounds like he's out of his depth.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well notwithstanding the last part of the point of order I did at the beginning say "in so far as the Minister had responsibility" however I probably should have ruled it out of order in the first instance so that was my fault.Nicole McKee: This question is in relation to the answer to the first question that the Minister gave. If Labour has introduced the toughest gun laws in New Zealand why is it that gun crime is up 47 percent under Labour's watch?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I will reiterate some of the measures that I mentioned in my initial answer. The fact that we will be having a registry available to know where guns are as of June 2023 will allow us to track who has guns and if they get into the wrong hands what is the responsibility of the people to get there. We have taken measures since 2019 to make sure that we make our streets safer from gun crime. We'll put our records up against the previous Government's record any day of the week.David Seymour: The question was about the effectiveness of the policies and the outcomes they've had. It wasn't an invitation to repeat the same policies that the Minister listed in the answer to the question that the supplementary question was about.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yeah. None the less it was addressed.Hon Mark Mitchell: Will she in light of the 12 gang-related shootings in the last week put the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill through the House under urgency; and if not why not?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We acknowledge that there are difficulties that those incidents may have caused the people involved. I reiterate to the member that the bill will be back before the House once it comes out of the select committee in August. This Government will make sure that FPOs come into place. Despite the promises of the previous Government—twice—it never delivered."