Bridges SimonHon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga): You know the member who has just sat down and spoken—Hon Chris Hipkins: I just said I came down just for this."Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well you're only human. The member that has just taken her seat Dr Liz Craig she started her contribution by saying "Well you know someone who has taken a pill they'll be sleepless they will be sweating there will be paranoia." You know I can agree with the member quite readily. Those are negative effects and we would want to do something about that. But the problem is I can't understand from the member's speech how on earth this bill does a single thing that stops those things. Because the reality is basically when we're thinking about this bill it's the MDMA. It's the actual main substance of the pill that is causing those effects. It's not the additive or what have you that the politically correct pill testers are going to be testing for that's causing those things. So when that side of the House pats themselves on the back because they say "Well we've fixed things here and everything's going to be OK now. Hallelujah. We've passed this law on pill testing and we've slipped in a few things along the way that do a lot more than we said it would by the way." actually I say and the National Party says tragically they're not actually solving very much at all.So it won't surprise you and it's been our position both on the temporary regime and now on this one that we oppose this law. It's well intentioned. I think the member that's just sat down—you know she's a medical doctor. I know other members on the other side of the House they're well intentioned about this but I say that look it's not going to achieve the sort of things that they say it will. In fact it could be that it does quite the reverse.So I just want to—I don't think I'll take the full 10 minutes. I do though want to recap on some of the arguments that have been made. The first argument I think that we hear so loud and clear from the public health lobby from Andrew Little and from the Labour Party is that this is all evidence-based. Well the only study—I keep asking Chlöe Swarbrick. I kept asking Andrew Little. I kept asking other members on the other side of the House for their studies the evidence base that they relied on. The only Kiwi study they could rely on—by the way they never referred to anything else from around the world that I could see not a specific study. The only study they could rely on was a Victoria one. By the way it was self-selecting. It was a sample. It wasn't within cooee of being what I would consider a proper evidence-based scientifically selected study of what is happening in New Zealand. It was self-selected. It was a sample.The reality of it is this: testing increases usage. You're testing you're giving people a sense of confidence—I believe false confidence—therefore usage goes up. What we have seen from actual studies on the ground in Australia and the United Kingdom—I believe in the United States; I'm not quite so familiar with the United States—is that actually fatalities have gone up because I say again it's not the additives that are being tested for that kill. So it's a false confidence in this bill that we are giving.Actually the only message that really stops fatalities is that no pill is safe. There's no such thing as a safe ecstasy or a safe dose of some of the other drugs that may in time be able to be tested. That's in effect what the coroner has said very recently. I acknowledge in the case for the coroner in the last month or so it was ecstasy and water but they nevertheless made the point: actually this isn't safe. That's a message that needs to get out there because it's a popular drug and people think certainly with the kind of kaupapa they're getting in this House from the other side that it's all OK and it's not.The member opposite before she sat down said "Well but there'll be all this wonderful advice from the pill testing stations." What a load of nonsense. It'll be politically correct a kind of a spiel that does not make clear that actually no pill is safe. It'll be "It's been tested. It doesn't have any of these other greeblies in it. Here you go. Go on your way son. Go on your way." That is not enough assurance it seems to me for young New Zealanders.The other thing and the thing I'd say to David Seymour is this—because ACT is doing a good job at the moment and I say "Good on them." They're cornering the market at a level in politics. They are doing a good job of being urban wokester and Groundswell right? But I say quite clearly to the ACT Party: actually when it comes to this bill—when it comes to this bill—actually the people of Groundswell they don't want to have to pay for other people to have their pills testing which is exactly what Andrew Little has done. He started this bill; it was just at festivals. Then it became pill testing everywhere. Then it became that the taxpayer's paying for it. I say to ACT: actually if it really was the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers it would stand up for taxpayers and say "You know what? You don't take drugs; you don't have to pay for other people to do so either." Because I reckon—David Seymour: Maybe farmers go to festivals.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well there'd be the odd one but actually I say to him he can't be Chlöe Swarbrick and the farmer down the road. At the moment that's what David Seymour with respect is trying to be. He's trying to be Herne Bay and Invercargill. I think actually as he gets close to the election he's going to find that difficult to do.So I say drugs aren't just a health issue. Yes they are a health issue but they're also—and I think frankly we're the only party in this Parliament that knows this—a criminal justice issue because of the harm they cause the misery they cause. It is not a victimless crime as some would have you believe. The referendum on cannabis that we saw at the last election made that quite clear actually. That's how New Zealanders see it as well.David Seymour: Why doesn't Simon want to be popular everywhere?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well it's all relative.David Seymour: Why can't you be popular in Herne Bay and Invercargill?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well Mr Seymour probably can for a time right? Until he's in Government—for a time. But I think it's hard to do that. I say once more before we sit down that actually one of the big problems with this bill has been that for the Government and Andrew Little in particular when he first came to this House he said it would just be for festivals. It then grew and it was pill testing everywhere that we're legalising. It then became that actually not only are we testing the pills but the taxpayer is going to pay for it everywhere. I just say—actually National is the only party that does in this House—that's not right. That is not a good use of taxpayers' money. Actually the evidence base isn't behind this bill. This is more than just a health issue. No pill is safe."