McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of the ACT Party in this third reading to support the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill. We support this bill although we do believe that at least one of the changes that is being made is unnecessary but let's get to the four Acts that are being changed making this an omnibus bill.First of all we have the Land Transport Act 1998. That's going to be changed so that the seizure and impounding of vehicles can be made easier by police in circumstances where we see things like a procession of gang members in a funeral procession overtaking the streets overtaking intersections running amok hanging out of their vehicles hanging out of their utes and just generally being bullies. This is allowing us to be able to impound their cars for 28 days.The Search and Surveillance Act 2012 is also being amended. It will give two new powers. The first one allows the issue of a warrant to search and seize weapons during a gang conflict and the second is the power to seize cash found in suspicious circumstances that amounts to over $10000. Now allowing the issue of a warrant to search and seize weapons during a gang conflict is becoming something that is absolutely necessary and unfortunately we are seeing again another increase in drive-by shootings. We're seeing innocent family homes being targeted. We're seeing a whole lot of gang influence in our communities by those that just want to be absolute thugs. Now I've got absolutely no sympathy for them at all. If you want to behave in a way where you go against the law then you should feel the full force of the law but unfortunately with some of the pieces of legislation we have we're finding situations where the police are unable to or do not use the law that they have. So we are giving them those extra powers so that they can keep our community safe.There is an Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 change as well and this will prohibit cash transactions over a specified value for certain high-value goods. That's basically meaning that the person who turns up with 40 grand in their back pocket in cash can't go about buying that Harley-Davidson that easily. It means that we will have some sort of countenance to where the cash has come from and also responsibility for the sellers and the buyers to ensure that the transactions are legitimate and legal.Another change we make is to the Crimes Act 1961 and it's discharging a firearm with intent to intimidate. This is specific for drive-by shootings. I said it in the second reading but I'll say it again: ACT believe that this is unnecessary legislation because there is already law in place to address the discharge of a firearm unlawfully and that's in section 48 of the Arms Act. The difference here is that the word intimidation" is being put into the clause and there is a difference in the penalties. This I think is an attempt by the Government of the day to show that they are going to try and be hard on those that misuse firearms in drive-by shootings but the reality is it's already there; it's just not being used. What we could have done is increased the penalties in the Arms Act for those unlawful people and added intimidation. Instead we have just introduced another clause doing the same thing and I think it was an unnecessary waste of taxpayer time and money.The bill is wanting to address the harm that is caused by criminal activity including that that's caused by gangs in order to make our communities safer. That's what we say in the introduction to this bill. But ACT doesn't support creating laws when there are laws already in place in the hope that a new law will be used when the old one with the same wording but harsher penalties is already in the tool box to be used. So let's get back to actually keeping our communities safe with the laws that we've got and the laws that we are making and actually use them so that we don't have to go about creating new laws the next time we go under urgency.Nevertheless if it means that there becomes a consequence for targeting homes for targeting families for targeting our innocent kids while they're sleeping with illegally possessed firearms then we will absolutely support it. We just consider that we could've been supporting the use of existing legislation many years ago instead of trying to do the same washing in a different machine.We have new clauses in this bill where a judge can issue a search and seizure warrant if he's satisfied that a gang conflict exists that there is one or more gangs involved that by issuing the warrant the community will be better for it because the potential harm will be gone and that the warrant can be issued in respect of either a place or a vehicle. This is there to help protect our communities when gang conflicts are occurring or are expected to occur because usually it's all about retaliation. When one event happens there is utu or retaliation by the other and you can see it coming. In some of the communities you can feel it coming. So this new power will allow the police to go to a judge and ask for warrants to be able to go in there and actually look at seizing weapons to try and prevent this gang conflict. As I said we can all see it and we can get involved in it not because we want to but because we're in the wrong place at the wrong time and that's why it's so important to have this legislation. We know that gangs have often shown no respect for our communities no respect for our families nor for our tamariki when they are out there looking for revenge. So we need to stop that way of thinking in their minds.These changes will allow police to search and seize weapons in an attempt to deescalate this conflict between the gangs and it also allows for what we hope will be the successful execution of those warrants at multiple addresses and on multiple vehicles all at the same time. This bill isn't just about finding and seizing firearms; it's about finding and seizing weapons—any weapons that could be used in a gang conflict—and this includes cars. Where vehicles are used inappropriately they can be seized and impounded for up to 28 days. Where the seizure relates to weapons like bats knives and guns they can be destroyed.It's important again that I point out that where firearms have been stolen from legitimate and licensed owners police have verified to us that it is their policy to ensure that if they know where to direct the stolen firearm back to they will return it instead of destroying it. Nothing in this legislation to protect property that has been stolen has actually been written into this piece of legislation so I thought it was quite important to bring it up so it is recorded in Hansard that there is that protective right of property for certain owners who had it legally and then had it stolen.There is a new ability for police to seize cash that they find where it's $10000 or more and of note is that the police are not allowed to hold on to that cash for too long. In fact it's a very short period of time in which the person who's had that cash seized from them must actually show how they legitimately got it. If they can do that they get it back quick smart; if they can't then the police will either apply to hold on to it for an extension of time or will actually seize it fully.Finally we have a reporting clause in this bill as well. The cash seizures have to be reported to an issuing officer and that's really quite important. Full reports will need to include whether the search warrant was actually executed; the type of weapons that were seized; whether other powers were also exercised like the seizure of that cash; and any criminal proceedings that eventuated because of the items found from that executing warrant. That's how we're going to know whether or not this bill which will become law will actually work—whether we're on the right pathway whether we need to make changes—by having reporting and having data to tell us how it's working.The need to disrupt gangs and their violence is well overdue. No more families should be hurt. There should be no more loss of innocence to our kids and we shouldn't allow any of that to occur. In that respect ACT will support this bill through its final reading. Thank you."