Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): I am specifically going to speak to my colleague the Hon Phil Goff's proposed amendment and take a bit of a different spin on it because currently the coroner has the ability to inquire into deaths of armed service personnel on active service unless authorised by the Attorney-General. What the legislation will do is basically flip that on its head and say that coroners cannot do an investigation into deaths of armed services personnel unless the Attorney-General asks them to. The implications from the families' perspective are really what I want to focus on. The Hon Phil Goff has talked about a specific example and that is of Corporal Luke Tamatea who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012 when his Humvee was destroyed by a roadside bomb. In that particular case not only did the coroner undertake an investigation or an inquiry but the military also undertook an investigation. The interesting commentary from the family was that the coroner's report into the death of Corporal Luke Tamatea helped not only his partner medic Sarah Erb but also his mother to get the answers that they were looking for which enabled that family to get closure. I want us to focus on that—it enabled the family to get closure. In respect of the military inquiry that was held in terms of Corporal Luke Tamatea's death the family got no information. So that is incredibly significant. The coroner undertook an investigation—completely independent and transparent and in the public good—and not only did the family receive the findings of that inquiry and investigation but also we all did because the aim and intention of these inquiries is that we can understand what happened we hear from people who were involved in that particular incident and it is the learnings from that coronial inquiry or investigation that then give effect to the recommendations that my colleague Jacinda Ardern was talking about so that we can ensure that these deaths if they are preventable never happen again. In terms of a military investigation or a military inquiry I think that we would all assume that the families would have access to the report findings. What has been really interesting to research is that the court of inquiry for military deaths is actually empowered by the Armed Forces Discipline Act of 1971 and so a court of inquiry must occur when a service person dies in the course of their duties. However when I searched through the Act and specifically section 200 for that guarantee that families are entitled to the report findings guess what? It does not exist. This is probably why in the instance that I just talked about the death of Corporal Luke Tamatea his family and his partner were not privy to the military findings because nowhere in that legislation are families guaranteed to receive that information. So I guess my question to the Minister responsible for this piece of legislation is whether we are going to now guarantee that families receive the military findings from investigations and inquiries. We are taking away an ability at the moment for the coroner to do an independent investigation which in the interests of the public good is actually shared with us all including the families. The most interesting other point to note at this point in time is however that on a case by case basis the records of the military's investigation can be released to the public based on high public interest and to also note that a relevant factor is the wishes of family representatives and the people who are also involved in the inquiry. So it is interesting that we say that we will ask the families whether or not they agree on a case by case basis but then we do not guarantee that they have access to the report findings. So I want to know from the Minister in the chair whether or not we are going to ensure that families of people in our military will automatically get any finding that only the military will now conduct because they have had the safeguard in the past of the coroner and the coroner's office being able to undertake an investigation that guaranteed to them that they would be able to get closure because they had access to the information of that coronial investigation. That is really I think at the heart of my colleague the Hon Phil Goff's proposed amendment because if we cannot guarantee that the families of our military personnel—who actually are the victims when their loved ones are killed fighting for our country. If we cannot guarantee to the families when their loved ones do die and a military investigation is conducted—if they do not automatically have access to those findings then I actually think that there are going to be a lot of questions asked about how families can then understand what happened to their loved ones and in this case of Corporal Luke Tamatea how they are going to get closure. If this piece of legislation is going to create this big huge black hole for families I seriously think that we need to put on the record that it is the expectation of this Committee and this Parliament that families will have automatic access to military investigations. If we cannot do that then I think an amendment needs to be tabled immediately by the Minister of Justice to address this issue. I am currently on the Justice and Electoral Committee. I was not on the select committee during the course of the submission process for this piece of legislation but having looked at my colleague Phil Goff's amendment and then from my perspective looking at the true intent of this I think that if we have left a big black hole that our families are going to fall into we need to do something about it. Thank you.