Mitchell Mark: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Mark: Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:800. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney):I would just like to say that we on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee are looking forward to receiving this bill. I know that I am committed to working with my colleagues across the House intensely over the coming days to make sure that people have access to the committee and that they have the ability to make a submission and raise any concerns and get into the detail around the bill.In relation to the title of the bill there were some concerns raised tonight I noted about the title that we have used on this bill—the Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill. I think that it is actually a very good title I think it is very accurate and I think we have to be very clear about what we are trying to achieve. We are trying to counter the growing threat that we have inside New Zealand of radicalised terrorist fighters and that is what the bill is about. In relation to what Mr Goff was saying in terms of the legislation that is going to be passed in the UK they are probably a bit more advanced in terms of where their legislation is right now—Hon Phil Goff: No they’re introducing it tomorrow.MARK MITCHELL: Yes I understand that but in terms of what they have now Phil they are probably a bit more advanced in the mere fact that they have had to face some terrible terror attacks on their own soil of course—the serviceman who was attacked with machetes in the street and hacked to death. They have had their public transport attacked with horrible loss of life and injuries. So it is pretty real to them and of course they are going to take all the measures that they can to make sure that they can maintain national security.The one thing that I can tell you about these groups like Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda is that they have an ability to change their tactics and move very very quickly. They can adapt very quickly and actually I think that it is a really good positive signal that we can show as a Government here in New Zealand that we can react quickly as well and that we can act quickly. That is exactly what we are doing. I honestly feel that when it comes to national security—and I hope that we end up in a really good place in this with consensus across the House—it should be something that we should be able to drive consensus through in this House to make sure that we are providing the best possible legislation available to protect our communities.I do not want to overstate it. I agree with Mr Shearer and with Minister Bridges that we do not want to be alarmist. The great thing about New Zealand is that we have one of the best police services in the world. Every night we go to bed and they are out there doing their job and we get up in the morning and we go about our business and we go about our lives. All we are doing here is we are making sure that our intelligence services have got the same ability to be able to go out there and act and allow us to go to bed at night and get up in the morning and go about our everyday life.There is another point that I wanted to make and it is quite important. I was at a function a couple of weeks ago and I was actually there with the Hon Phil Goff. We were farewelling the New Zealand women’s kabaddi team. Kabaddi is a sport that maybe a lot of you have not actually heard about. I do not know how to describe it. It is probably a bit like bullrush. It is highly technical.Hon Phil Goff: Bit tougher.MARK MITCHELL: Yes it is probably a bit tougher as well and actually our women’s team has got a real chance of winning the world championships this year. But one thing that was highlighted there was that the master of ceremonies got up—he was a Sikh Indian—and he said: “The one thing that I can ask is please help us to make sure that we aren’t lumped in with these terrorists and that we don’t start to live in a society that starts to vilify and attack us.”I want to highlight a point that the Prime Minister made in his speech which was a very very good one. He said: “I want to stress that none of these people are representative of the New Zealand Muslim community as a whole. The Muslim community is a peaceful one which makes a valuable contribution to New Zealand. I know the vast majority of Muslim New Zealanders are as distressed by the actions of ISIL and its violent extremist message as anyone else. As a Government we are doing what we can to prevent New Zealanders going off to fight for ISIL and brutally killing innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria.”The last thing I would like to do—I am aware that I have got a short call—is remind the House of exactly what ISIL is all about. It is about the indiscriminate killing and massacring of religious groups of tribal groups. It is about the capturing the torturing the trading in women. It is about wholesale rape. It is about taking people hostage who are trying to do something good those in NGOs delivering aid. It is about detaining them putting them in an orange suit binding their hands taking them out in the desert and chopping their heads off—one of the worst possible deaths that anyone could imagine.Actually we do not want Kiwis going over there and joining the fight and I think we have to take some action to make sure that we do all that we can to prevent that from happening. Sure there are going to be some who are radicalised. There are some who are going to be hard determined and want to go out and be hard determined terrorist fighters. But there are actually probably some on the fringes as well who look at the YouTube clips and watch a Hollywood movie that romanticises and glorifies what these people are doing.But I can tell you right now that there is nothing romantic there is no glory in joining a group that systematically rapes kills and creates absolute havoc everywhere that they go. I can tell you right now that when you decide to go and fight with them and you get hit with an improvised explosive device or you get involved in a contact and you have taken a wound to the stomach and there is a bit of intestine hanging out or there is part of a limb missing there is no New Zealand health system that you have access to—right? You will be lying on the back of a ute and you will probably be left there for a good day or day and a half before anyone even tries to assist you or do anything to you. There is nothing romantic about travelling to the Middle East to join a group like ISIL and if we can do something as a country to be able to stop those people from leaving our shores then actually it is incumbent upon us to do that.So I am looking forward to receiving this bill at the committee. I make a commitment—I know along with the rest of the committee members—to work as hard as we can over the coming days to make sure that people get access and can make submissions. Thank you.