SpeechFIREARMS PROHIBITION ORDERS LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): I present a legislative statement on the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: This Government is committed to reducing firearms violence—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Excuse me honourable Minister would you please move?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Madam Speaker. I move That the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill.This Government is committed to reducing firearms violence and the impact it has on our communities. Following the tragic events of 15 March this Government embarked on an ambitious firearm reform programme which will reshape how we regulate firearms in our country. This included taking 60 prohibited weapons off the streets establishing a ministerial arms advisory group to assist these reforms setting up a new purpose-built firearms unit within police to implement these reforms and by June 2023 we will have a comprehensive register in place that will help to fill a 30-year deficit of information when it comes to firearms in our community. This bill is another part of the Government's comprehensive plan to tackle firearms violence. We need to respond to the harm that gun-related violence does to our society. We need to put aside political divisions and recognise that more can be done to remove guns from the hands of those who would use them to harm us. As Minister of Police it is my strong belief—and that of this Government—that it is a privilege not a right to own or use a gun in this country. Those that maintain a risk of recidivism back into serious crime need to be excluded from a key means of perpetrating their criminal violence coercion and control: their future access to firearms. This bill presents to the House firearms prohibition orders as an additional tool to reduce gun crime. The bill provides an important new way for New Zealand to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and to keep our communities safe. This bill will ensure that a person subject to a firearms prohibition order will not be able to use access or be around guns. Unless a court order says otherwise they also will not be able to live in or visit locations where there are firearms or associate with someone who has them. The bill will make it a criminal offence to breach a firearms prohibition order and also a crime to knowingly supply firearms to those that have a firearms prohibition order placed on them. The bill enables a court to make a firearms prohibition order for any person 18 years of age or older who has been convicted of a serious criminal offence. Qualifying offences for a firearms prohibition order are serious firearms offences serious violent offences participation in organised criminal groups or terrorism-related offences. The bill has a number of safeguards built into it. In particular the court must be satisfied that on balance of probabilities the making of a firearms prohibition order is reasonable necessary and appropriate to assist in managing the risk that that person sentenced poses to public safety. The qualifying convictions in the bill target those who present the highest risk of future serious violent crime or serious firearms offences. Those who are subject to a firearms prohibition order are required to meet a number of conditions: they would not be able to be around firearms stay where firearms are stored or are available join or visit shooting clubs or ranges participate in any activity that involves firearms visit places where firearms are made repaired or modified. However these standard conditions may be modified by the court to take into account particular personal circumstances—this is an important safeguard. The bill enables a court to take into consideration a person's rehabilitation and reintegration needs and provides some flexibility to enable a subject person to reside or work in a place where guns may be stored such as a farm. The court can provide for this flexibility through a tailored court order. In this way the bill provides some important flexibility to support a subject person's rehabilitation reintegration and ongoing relationships with and within the community. The bill provides a tiered approach to penalties to ensure that they are proportionate to the extent of the breach of the firearms prohibition order. Clause 10 of the bill creates lower and upper order penalties. The lower order penalty which would be available for breaches of standard or special conditions would be punishable by a term of up to two years' imprisonment. This is consistent with most breach offences. The higher order penalty would see someone who committed a breach of a broad condition imprisoned for up to five years—or up to seven years if that breach involved a prohibited firearm. This is consistent with similar unlawful possession offences. There are also penalties for knowingly supplying a firearm to a person subject to a firearms prohibition order. This offence would have similar tiered penalties: up to seven years' imprisonment for selling or supplying a prohibited firearm; up to five years' imprisonment for selling or supplying other arms parts. This bill aims to reduce firearm offending and victimisation and that will help reduce victimisation in our communities and in particular in our Māori communities. Māori have experienced a worrying growth in serious firearms offences perpetrated on their communities and whānau. The incidence of these crimes on these communities has almost doubled over the last 10 years. The serious firearms-related criminal harm that is their lived experience is now close to double that of the general population too. Firearms prohibition orders will help us in addressing this. I know that matters raised and considered by Māori will be further explored as the bill is scrutinised by the Justice Committee and I look forward to hearing this important feedback. The bill before Parliament today represents an important development in extending the New Zealand arms control. It will further improve public safety and build on earlier reforms introduced by this Government. It provides additional measures and wider sanction and controls targeted at those that have serious criminal convictions and are hardened to crime. We want to prevent those people from accessing firearms which are a key means of perpetrating future violent and serious crime. If they breach such a ban or others are complicit in such a breach by supplying firearms they will face harsh penalties. This is an important step towards making our communities safer and addressing firearms violence. I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.