Mackey Moana: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call in the debate on Part 2 of the Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill. Like the previous speaker Ron Mark this debate is also my first opportunity to take a call on the bill and I am happy to support it of course. 
Part 2 amends the Employment Relations Act 2000. The point has been made time and time again that perhaps this bill is not only one whose time has come but one whose time has in many ways passed. But it is important that the law of this country reflects the practice in the armed forces and also endorses the very good work that the many women in the armed forces of New Zealand currently do overseas on behalf of this country. It is important to recognise the work that those women do because in many of the countries in which they work there is perhaps a view of what women should be able to do and what they can do that is quite different from what we experience here in New Zealand. 
All the feedback that we as parliamentarians get about the work that our women in the armed forces do in those countries is very very positive. I think it is a compliment to all people in our armed forces both men and women that they are able to go into any situation—in any culture and in any country—to operate in a dignified and tolerant manner and to do so in a way that works towards reconciliation within that country without adding to any of its turmoil. For women that can be particularly difficult. Although it is very important that we make these consequential amendments to the Employment Relations Act in Part 2 it is also important to acknowledge and recognise the very difficult circumstances that some of our women in the armed forces can find themselves in when they are in countries where the values towards women are slightly different and where that impacts on the way in which they must conduct themselves within those communities in working towards reconciliation without adding to any of the turmoil going on in the area. 
When we go through these amendments to the Employment Relations Act—and they are an important part of this bill—we see they will in no way diminish the work that women in the armed forces in New Zealand have done over the last centuries. Many of us in our own families know this from the military history. I had a great-grandfather George Craig who was a medic at Gallipoli. My grandfather was a soldier in Africa and in Italy in World War II and he spent time in an Italian prisoner of war camp. My other grandfather was in the Navy in the Pacific. Much is known about those members of the family. Perhaps less is known about the contribution to the war effort made by many of the women in my family who had to hold the family together and continue to be the breadwinners. My grandmother plotted the course of many of the ships that were coming into the Pacific and that was how she found out that her first husband had died. She plotted the attack on his ship as it came into the Pacific. 
This amendment to the Employment Relations Act 2000 in no way diminishes the work that has been done by many of our women over generations in this country even if that work has not been done in a combat role in the armed forces. But of course times move on and women in New Zealand now play a very very important role in our armed forces. They are up there alongside the men in the armed forces. They are doing fantastic work in peacekeeping and in various roles around the world and in this new age we want to recognise that. 
I congratulate Lynne Pillay on bringing the bill to the House and I congratulate the Government on now picking up this legislation. We now want to recognise a new reality for many women in New Zealand—that they no longer want an exemption from combat roles in the armed forces. Part 2 provides that because it ensures that the Employment Relations Act does not in any way give an exemption to say that we expect everyone to be treated fairly in the workplace that we expect total equality for all people in workplaces in New Zealand but that there is an exemption when it comes to the role women play in the armed forces—that they are able to exempt themselves from combat roles. Well I think that women in the armed forces no longer want this exemption. It may be only a symbolic gesture but it is a very important symbolic gesture to make. 
Along with many aspects of equality and along with many of its rights come responsibilities and this is a responsibility. Our women currently do fantastic work all around the world especially here in the Pacific where their role really is appreciated but I want to reiterate that they are not exempt in any way through the Employment Relations Act 2000. This may be a very small part but it is in fact at the very crux of this bill—that our women in the armed forces will now stand once this bill is passed on an equal footing to everyone else in that area. I again acknowledge the fine work that many women over the generations have done in New Zealand in this area and the fine work that our men and women in the armed forces do today.