Auchinvole Chris: Wills Bill — In Committee 
Auchinvole Chris: Wills Bill — In Committee 
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CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 I rise to speak largely on the proposed amendment to Part 2 of the Wills Bill. I guess I would like to say at the outset that to make yet another exception to clause 10 could defeat to my mind the real purpose of the member’s amendment which would be—and this was touched on by almost all of the speakers—to seek a review of whether 18 is an appropriate age at which to consider people to be adults. I encourage the member to press for the wider consideration of that issue rather than to make an exception in this case. In my experience in all sorts of fields if one makes exceptions that just goes on forever until it eventually can become a rule to make an exception. 
To speak on the matter of ages as it refers to wills I say the making of a will is a low-risk activity and most laws that do not allow young people opportunities to do things that adults are able to do are intended to protect the child from harm. Here there should be no great harm attached. It is hard to see what harm can result from making a will and one could be forgiven for being at a bit of a loss to understand why we have an age restriction on the legality of a will. 
That restriction is all to do though with property and with property comes all sorts of desires and intentions and also a need to protect the vulnerable. Wills relate to possessions and most people are pretty aware of what their possessions are. If one has a possession I think it is reasonable that one has the disposal of that possession as part of the entitlement that goes with it. Possessions and the ethics surrounding them are to varying degrees common to all cultures and people. I have had the opportunity to travel extensively in many different cultures particularly throughout the South Pacific during my time as an exporter and a Pacific trader. Cultural differences are huge between the various societies— 
Hon Rick Barker 
: Very irrelevant. 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: —I thank the Minister—but concepts of ethics justice possessions right and wrong and theft are common to them all. If a person owns something no one else has the rights to it without compensation—and possession is not really something that is fixed by age in my experience. 
All that being so we can talk about clause 10 which fixes the age at which a young person can make a valid will as my colleague Mr Finlayson has already pointed out. Currently in New Zealand a person under the age of 18 cannot make a valid will on his or her own. An exception is made for a person under 18 who is married in a civil union in a de facto relationship or in the armed forces. The incapacity of under-18s to make a valid will reflects the English common law which treats children below that age of majority as being under the “disability of infancy”. That means that they do not qualify for civil law rights enjoyed by adults. We heard the member mention the Gillick principle which has been followed by courts in New Zealand and Australia but that does not override statutory provisions. 
One of the interesting things we get to is the discussion of the unintended consequences of some of the legislation we produce and I guess that one could say “Here we go again.” Under-18s can make a valid will if they are or have been married in a civil union or in a de facto relationship. 
Progress reported. 
Report adopted.