Burton Mark: Visiting Forces Bill — Second Reading 
Burton Mark: Visiting Forces Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12813] 
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 I move  
That the Visiting Forces Bill be now read a second time 
. This bill which is the outcome of a lengthy policy development process will repeal and replace the Visiting Forces Act of 1939 and both rectifies deficiencies in the present law and updates and amends the law relating to visiting armed forces to reflect established international practice. Importantly it will permit New Zealand to ratify its status of forces agreement with Australia and it will contribute to the enhancement of New Zealand’s international defence and security relationships by providing a clearer and more comprehensive legislative basis for the acceptance of visiting forces to New Zealand. It will minimise the possibility of future problems in New Zealand’s relationship with States sending forces to our country by reducing the prospect of misunderstandings surrounding the status rights and obligations of forces visiting New Zealand. 
The bill was referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee last November. Only one submission was received which was from the New Zealand Law Society. The Law Society took the view that clause 8 as drafted which dealt with the question of when a visiting force can exercise jurisdiction over its own personnel in New Zealand suggested that without a status of forces agreement such jurisdiction could not be exercised. The committee has recommended that clause 8 be amended to provide for restricted jurisdiction by visiting forces over a limited range of offences that do not involve the persons or property of New Zealanders if there is no status of forces agreement. This is agreed to. 
The Law Society made a further comment that clause 15 lacked precision as drafted. Clause 15 provides that the proceedings of a service tribunal of a visiting force may not be called into question in any proceedings before a New Zealand court. The purpose of this clause is to oust the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts in respect of these matters. The problem noted by the Law Society was that the purpose and scope of the clause were unclear. The committee was advised by the New Zealand Defence Force that under the bill it was intended that nothing done by the service authorities of a visiting force in the exercise of its criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction should be called into question in a New Zealand court. Such acts are covered by the international law doctrine of sovereign immunity and if the New Zealand Government was offended by a particular exercise of the visiting force’s jurisdiction that would be dealt with as a diplomatic matter between the New Zealand Government and the Government of the relevant sending State. The committee has recommended an amendment to clause 15 to clarify this position. Again the select committee’s recommendation is agreed to by the Government. 
The committee has recommended two further amendments based on the advice of officials that I will briefly mention both of which are agreed to. One is a minor textual amendment to clause 4 that is consequential to the amendment to clause 8. The other is the amendment to clause 24 to provide that the bill will not be in force in Tokelau and it has been inserted following diplomatic discussions with the representatives of those islands. I therefore foreshadow that a small Supplementary Order Paper containing minor further amendments in order to correct cross-references to other parts of the bill and other statutes will be introduced. 
As I said on introducing this bill the bill is also important for reasons of international reciprocity. New Zealand expects its deployed forces to be afforded the privileges including certain immunities from local jurisdiction that visiting forces customarily have under international law. Those are among the matters contained in the status of forces agreement negotiated with the States to which the New Zealand Defence Force deploys and with which this country has defence relationships. Negotiation of such agreements will be made less difficult by New Zealand’s law allowing similar privileges and immunities for the forces of such States when they visit New Zealand. 
I want to thank the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for the excellent work that it has done and the unanimous recommendations that it has made on this worthy measure. I also want to thank the New Zealand Law Society for its careful scrutiny of the bill and valuable contribution. The bill is the better for its attention. 
The bill as amended will play an important role in enhancing New Zealand’s capacity to engage as a valued member of the international community by bringing law that has been in place since the outbreak of World War II into line with contemporary international law and practice. It will play a particularly important part in facilitating the next step in New Zealand’s closer defence relations with Australia—the ratification of our status of forces agreement. I commend this bill to the House.