Ryall Tony: Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Ryall Tony: Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
: 
 The National Party in Opposition supports the voting down of this bill and congratulates the member on putting the bill forward. I think it is a very important role of back-bench MPs to bring such ideas forward. I am disappointed for the member that she has been left behind for so long on the back bench. I think that there would be opportunities for her in the ministry and the fact that she has not had that opportunity is disappointing. It is also disappointing that the Government decided not to adopt the member’s bill because I think it would have been very nice for the member to have a bill passed in her name before the general election because Dianne Yates will not be here after the next general election. The next MP for Hamilton East will be a young man called David Bennett who has put in a tremendous effort already since being selected as the National Party candidate for Hamilton East. He has attended many of the school prize givings and local events that the local member of Parliament has not attended because she was down here at Parliament. 
One of the important things about giving back-bench members the opportunity to produce members’ bills is that those bills do engender public debate and often Ministers do take on board a member’s concerns. The Government would like to give the impression that it has taken on board the concerns that Ms Yates brought forward in her Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill. But I draw members’ attention to the commentary from the National Party on the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) because there is actually quite a lot of doubt about whether her concerns are in fact picked up in that bill. Members of the House will have their minds refreshed when I say that the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) was the bill in which Mr Goff proposed to decriminalise some sexual activity of children aged between 12 and 16. He told Cabinet that he thought the public would support those proposals but when they were outlined to the public in a Sunday newspaper he quickly backed away from his plan to decriminalise some sexual activity of children aged between 12 and 16 which he had thought the public would support. Although that bill attempts to cover the drug rape issue it also proposes that foster parents will be able to have sexual conduct with their foster children once the foster child is 18 years of age. That is also proposed in the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) and members will be able to read our commentary on that together with our views and concerns that Ms Yates’ comments on the drug rape issue are not necessarily being taken on board by the Government. There is confusion about the wording of that bill and we draw that to the House’s attention in our commentary on the bill. 
So we support the expiration of this bill—the voting down of this bill. We acknowledge Dianne Yates who has brought this bill forward. We are very disappointed that the Government did not see fit to proceed to have this bill brought forward and passed into law. I think it would have been great for Dianne Yates to finish her time in Parliament by having a bill passed in I think quite an important area. It is disappointing that the Government did not give her that opportunity as a back-bench MP. We will also have other speakers in this debate who will talk about our concerns that the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) has failed to address the full magnitude of Ms Yates’ concerns but we indicate to the House that we will take on board Ms Yates’ comments and we will support the voting down of this bill.