Hipkins Chris: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8231. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I want to take only a very brief call on this bill which is relatively non-controversial and is supported on all sides of the House. I had the opportunity to sit on the Government Administration Committee that considered this bill and made a few amendments. I had some concerns as we began the select committee hearings on this bill and I will talk about a couple of those briefly. 
The Labour Party agrees obviously with the need to stay up to date with the latest technology to keep our borders safe. We need to protect against things such as the menace of P. Often smuggling is undertaken by organised gangs with very sophisticated techniques and the Customs Service needs to have the tools to keep on top of that threat. One of the things that we talked about for a reasonable amount of time at the select committee was the powers of arrest that this bill deals with. I guess I just wanted to receive a reassurance in the committee that we were not in fact extending the powers of arrest or giving new powers of arrest. Having looked at all of the evidence on that the committee was satisfied that the bill does not extend those powers and it clarifies what can be done under the existing legislation. We spent quite a lot of time probing that in the committee to make sure that that was indeed the case. We were relatively comfortable that it was perfectly all right although other members have raised issues around the 7 days which I think the Minister in the chair the Hon Maurice Williamson has subsequently addressed. 
We also questioned some of the technology—I can see Jacqui Dean over there; she was also interested in this particular area—just to make sure that the technology was at least as effective and at least as reliable as human checking. I think we found as the Minister has just pointed out that in some cases the technology is actually more reliable than human judgment as to whether the person who is presenting himself or herself is actually the person on the passport. We spent a considerable amount of time considering the issue and we are relatively comfortable about that as well. 
The final things that we spent a reasonable amount of time talking about that I can recall were issues around search and surveillance and making sure that this bill did not give a whole range of new search and surveillance powers that were not there previously particularly with regard to containers and the fitting of electronic devices on containers. Having gone into that issue in some detail although we had some questions around it still I think we were comfortable enough that this bill did not confer huge additional search and surveillance powers which of course is a debate that is being held in another part of the parliamentary process at the moment. 
So overall I think the committee was pretty comfortable with this bill. We had some questions and issues along the way but I think the Committee can be reassured that the select committee interrogated the officials on this bill quite thoroughly. I think as a result this is a good bill and I commend it to the Committee. 
The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Papers 100 and 104 in the name of the Hon Maurice Williamson be agreed to. 
Amendments agreed to. 
Parts 1 and 2 schedules 1 to 3 and clauses 1 and 2 as amended agreed to. 
The Committee divided the bill into the Customs and Excise Amendment Bill and the Tariff Amendment Bill pursuant to Supplementary Order Paper101. 
Bill reported with amendment. 
Report adopted.