Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Madam Chair. I just wanted to follow on from that last speaker Todd McClay who made some very good points around what we're seeing in this House today which is bizarre behaviour from the Government—effectively saying that drugs are a health issue and not a criminal issue.I just wonder when we look at this bill here the Maritime Powers Extension Bill—our maritime border is very important to New Zealand as a country that is an island with very coastal boundaries. It's very difficult to maintain that degree of separation between what we actually have as our landmass and the potential for people to come to New Zealand or to bring products to New Zealand that don't go through the normal and legitimate channels. So smuggling drugs through our maritime boundaries is something that is quite common. There are often cases where you hear of situations where drugs are smuggled through on to beaches and on small ships and boats that take advantage of New Zealand's coastline to bring drugs in so we need to be vigilant in this area.This bill is something that the Acting Minister of Customs has put forward. Generally the Hon Kris Faafoi is a very good Minister I must admit. He is one of their better ones. It always helps when you're Associate Minister of Immigration—I think you do get a lot more praise when you hold that ministry portfolio. No he's a genuine and good Minister. So he's putting this bill forward and National is supporting the bill through the House because we recognise the importance of our boundaries. And New Zealanders need to see that in our Government because part of being a Government is to give New Zealanders a sense of security. We do that in a number of ways in this Chamber—just look around at the military security the plaque names in this Chamber.The public expect the Government to keep them safe. It's a fundamental principle of Government. There are not many fundamental principles of Government but one is to keep the people safe; one is to run an economy which is successful as well and doesn't rely on a little bit of rainfall to get their GDP figures up. Actually that fundamental basis of keeping our people safe is a responsibility of whoever is in Government not something that they can walk away from and we need to see that responsibility held up in our maritime boundaries just as we need to see that responsibility held up in our airport boundaries.It's just not good enough to have a period of time each day at the earliest point of the day that people can come into this country without any checking. The normal things that go on in our airport boundaries should be able to be there for all 24 hours. Now every drug dealer out there will be booking a flight from Melbourne coming in at 3 a.m. because they know that there are no sniffer dogs there. So tomorrow it will be all these drug dealers—well they'll probably get a free State house as well when they get here because they can go back to their home and have that—Louisa Wall: No they don't; they get nothing. They arrive and get nothing.Hon DAVID BENNETT: They arrive and get nothing?Louisa Wall: That's right.Hon DAVID BENNETT: So the Labour Party said they arrive and get nothing. Well if somebody is a drug dealer in New Zealand and living in a State house they can't lose their house because it's a health issue for them. It's not actually a criminal issue any more; it's a health issue. If they just go to Melbourne and come back at 3 a.m. bringing some more drugs into the country they're not going to get caught at the airport so why would they want to even engage in the maritime issue when they can go through our airports freely? That's the issue that most drug dealers will be looking at this afternoon. They'll be knowing they can't get thrown out of their house and they'll be knowing—Hon Andrew Little: The member hasn't read the bill—doesn't know what he's talking about. What a hopeless speech.Hon DAVID BENNETT: This is the member here—this is Mr Little. This is Mr Little who refuses interviews who refuses to actually answer questions. Mr Little is in a corner and he knows he's in a corner because he genuinely believes that these are not criminals that people that breach our maritime rules aren't criminals. That's what—Hon Andrew Little: Which rules?Hon DAVID BENNETT: Because they're drug dealers; because they've got a health issue! They've got a health issue! They're not criminals; they've got a health issue! They need to be supported through health issues!Hon Andrew Little: Which rules in the bill? Just talk about the rules in the bill—just one.Hon DAVID BENNETT: That's what you believe. That's what the Minister believes.