Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh; Tolley AnneKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for your contribution also. I was about to throw a point out that the Hon Willie Jackson is on the second reading of this bill and the rest of the House is on the first reading so that shows how much involvement we have got from the Ministers. So that was a really really good contribution Hon Willie Jackson. I really appreciated it. Before I go further I would like to acknowledge the contribution of our newest member Dan Bidois. He did very well and I hope he will have a very long innings in this House. Whereas Hon Willie Jackson said that he was in the wrong party I think he is in the right party because whatever he did that is what is expected from a National Party member. I would also like to pay my condolences to the Hon Shane Jones on his father's passing away. I hope that when we see him we will do it in person also. It's my privilege to stand in the first reading of the Maritime Powers Extension Bill and support it during the first reading. As the previous speaker from our party Simon O'Connor mentioned we will be supporting this bill through the first reading and the process and hopefully during the select committee there will be some more changes. I would also like to acknowledge the Hon Nicky Wagner and the Hon Tim Macindoe for their contribution to this bill which was developed during their leadership. We live in a country which we feel is a fortunate opportunity for us. It is a neat and clean place to live in and to welcome our tourist guests with open arms. Some of these people who want to enter New Zealand through our various ports of entry have malicious intentions. Due to these bad intentions over the years there has been a rapid increase in the number of attempts to smuggle drugs into New Zealand. The New Zealand Customs Service does a good job to stop that and they have a mandate to stop harm to New Zealanders. The New Zealand Customs Service plays an important role in this. We want to ensure that New Zealand takes all steps possible to make it harder for the global criminal groups to target New Zealand. We know that each year the use of illicit drugs particularly methamphetamine is estimated to cost New Zealand $1.8 billion in social harm. The criminal networks don't care about the devastating effects of these drugs. They are motivated by greed and a relatively high price in New Zealand and they are getting more sophisticated. Customs is seeing more and more importation of these drugs and the number of attempts to smuggle these drugs has increased in recent years. Last year it is estimated customs did a great job in stopping these drugs. It is estimated that more than a tonne of methamphetamine was prevented from being imported into New Zealand and the street value of that drug was around a billion dollars. In 2015 the seizure of these drugs almost tripled with customs and police intercepting 293 kilos compared to 105 kilos in 2014. Keeping methamphetamine off our streets and away from our communities was a big priority for the National Government. That's why we were taking the initiative to make sure that this bill went through as soon as possible. Most importantly these seizures have protected our families and the wider community from a considerable amount of potential harm. We hope that this bill progresses as soon as possible and that it stops such importation and gives the authority to customs to work in international waters so that we can intercept such consignments coming through to New Zealand. I commend this bill to the House. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just before I call the next member I'll just point out to members that the time isn't working. So we'll go back to the old-fashioned way in which I'll ring a bell at two minutes.