Gallagher Martin: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Gallagher Martin: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:616;Page:11969] 
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
: 
 I rise to support the bill. I compliment the previous speaker on his contribution. Unlike the speaker before him Mr Dunne did not descend to some partisan political debate when in reality this bill has the support of the whole House although one or two members may want to make some very cheap shots. I particularly acknowledge—if I can use the title in tonight’s context—Captain Mapp. It has a good ring to it and I say that with absolute respect as I do when I refer to Major Mark because it illustrates that people have had a life a contribution and a passion for service to their country well before they came to Parliament. I acknowledge the hard work of the original author of the bill. 
 I know that Captain Mapp will support me when I acknowledge the passion that Graham Kelly the former chair of the select committee had in getting this bill through and the work he did. Although he may not be listening on short wave hopefully with Internet radio if he is up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning or whatever time it is in Ottawa he may very well be listening. Also I commend the very constructive leadership of Peter Dunne the current chair. The select committee I believe did a good job on this bill and in keeping with this positive spirit I strongly acknowledge Ron Mark’s contribution along with Mr Mapp’s. I acknowledge that Mr Mark has had a very solid and clear background with the Army and with the armed forces and that is interesting for someone like myself who has not had that life experience. I did not see Ken Shirley on those Vietnam marches in the 1970s but we will be checking out his history. [ 
Interruption 
] He may want to disavow some sort of participation but we will look back through library records and check that out just to make sure about what he was doing when he was in his teens and twenties. I seem to recall he did have certain affiliations before he joined ACT. 
In acknowledging people such as Ron Mark and Wayne Mapp for their participation in the armed forces I acknowledge the many many New Zealanders who have served this country both in the professional armed forces and as territorial soldiers. Those men and women have served this country well. The one thing that brings if one likes a tug to my heart is when I attend as we all do the Anzac Day commemoration services and see the young primary and secondary school students in some form of services be it scouts or guides—and in the case of my electorate we have an excellent army cadet unit with Hamilton Fraser High School. 
We also have an excellent young air force group navy group etc. As part of a useful contribution to tonight’s third reading debate on this bill perhaps we can talk about and reflect a little on the encouragement and the signals that we send to those students in terms of the services they may contemplate—firstly possibly going into the professional armed forces but secondly looking at ongoing service and marrying another career another role with service in the Territorial Force. 
This bill in my view is also about sending them positive signals about thinking outside the narrow and rather selfish lives we sometimes lead and about how we can serve our community. What is one of the things we can do to serve our community? Obviously joining and participating in the Territorial Force of this country is a wonderful example of service to our country. It is a wonderful example of patriotism in the broadest sense of the word. We see and think of those young secondary school kids and then suddenly they are a bit older and we are seeing those fresh faces in places like Timor and other parts of the world. When see people who are taking significant personal risks because they have some sense of service and a sense of pride in their country then anything we can do as parliamentarians to help in that service is to be strongly commended. No one will see me getting into any political tit for tat. The reality is that a bill came to a select committee—and in an ideal world things would move faster. We do not live in an ideal world. In spite of the in my view less than charitable contributions by an ACT speaker a member has promoted a bill and I think it is a very good example of a member being able to look back and say: “Yes we achieved this.” and having support from the Minister having support from the ministry and having support from the select committee because we said the existing legislation is not good enough. 
Let us take the time tonight to reflect on the legislation that this bill is replacing which is of course the Volunteers Employment Protection Act 1973—possibly when Mr Shirley was on some marches on main streets around the country; I do not know. That legislation was enacted at the time that national service was abolished and it protected the civil employment of the volunteer members of all three services. It was extended under the Defence Act 1990 to cover the deployment of members of the Territorial Force but it had not been systematically reviewed and that legislation that is currently in place—which will be replaced by the new legislation—is out of step with modern employment legislation. As I understand it it does not cover Territorial Force members who serve overseas voluntarily as many have in Timor-Leste and there was clearly a need—and I am stating the obvious—to update the legislation to refine it and bring it in to meet the needs of today’s situation. The select committee heard a wide range of public submissions to that effect and in fact the bill as introduced needed to perhaps go further than its original scope. 
As I said substantial work was done by committee members and the Minister of Defence and then of course we had the Supplementary Order Paper which expanded the scope of the protection available to volunteers in the territorial forces of all three services both when called up by proclamation to continuous service within New Zealand or overseas and when serving voluntarily for fixed periods when that service is declared to be in a situation of national interest. It also provides a workable mechanism for volunteers in the Territorial Force to serve voluntarily for various fixed periods. Aligning as far as possible the procedures and practices for volunteers’ leave with those established under the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act also brings the Act up to date with present employment law and empowers the Governor-General in Council to make regulations to compensate employers who have Territorial Force volunteer employees who serve in a situation of national interest. 
In the time I have left let me be gracious as most other speakers bar one or two have been in this debate tonight. Firstly let me praise and compliment Captain Mapp on his efforts. Let me compliment the Minister of Defence on his strong support for this bill. Let me compliment Major Mark on bringing an expertise and a background that I as a member who has not personally served in the armed forces of this country found to be very very useful. I thank Ron Mark for that. I talked earlier on about Anzac Day and seeing those young kids who go into the army cadets the air force cadets and the navy cadets. I am so delighted that this bill is sending those young New Zealanders—the kids who get on with life and do not cause us problems; the ones that the newspapers never write about; the 95 percent of good kids in this country—a clear message. We are saying to them: “Volunteer believe in service serve your country and we as a society will take care of you and honour your service to this nation.” 
Bills read a third time.