Lees-Galloway Iain: Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13814] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to follow the member Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi who has just given one of his notoriously short and inconsequential speeches in the House. He barely made it to 4 minutes in speaking on his own bill. I say from the outset that Labour will support the Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill because it repeals obsolete and outdated legislation. But to be absolutely honest we wonder why we are here tonight debating this bill when there are so many other issues that we could be dealing with. 
John Hayes 
: You had 9 years and you didn’t do it. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Does the member know why we did not do it? It was because there was absolutely no point. There is no reason whatsoever to be here debating this bill. 
Hon Annette King 
: Even the Minister’s smiling. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Even the Minister in the gallery—and I do not know whether he is looking down on the future Minister of Defence—is smiling about this bill tonight. 
The bill repeals the Military Manoeuvres Act under which land could be made available for military manoeuvres. The Act provided that after the manoeuvres the land would have to be returned to the owner of the land in as close to the original condition as possible. However to the best of our knowledge the Act has not been used for at least 30 years. In fact it may not have been used since World War I. So the Act is obsolete and it is great that we are getting rid of it but seriously is this why Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi came into Parliament? Is this what his supporters sent him to Wellington to do? Did the first Sikh member of Parliament came to Wellington to repeal the Military Manoeuvres Act? I do not think so. I do not think that this is what his supporters sent him to Wellington to do. 
It is possible that his supporters thought that maybe he would come to Wellington and deal with some crime issues. I know that his community is deeply concerned about crime and they probably thought that was an issue that Mr Bakshi could focus on. Or maybe he could turn his attention to assisting the members of the Indian community who will be so deeply affected by the 90-day no rights at work legislation. That could have been something that Mr Bakshi could turn his attention to. But no; instead he has decided that this bill is his piece of action. This is the bill that he will be remembered for. It is his signature piece of legislation. He will be remembered for two things: short speeches and the repeal of the Military Manoeuvres Act. 
One has to wonder what this bill was even doing in the ballot in the first place. We had such short speeches from National members on a far more important bill that came out of the ballot the Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill in the name of Rahui Katene. They could not even manage to put a decent speech together for that bill so why was this bill in the ballot? It was padding. There is no other reason whatsoever than padding to try to avoid any decent bills coming out of the ballot that would require the Government to debate some serious subjects. That was the reason for this bill. I have no doubt that that is the reason why Mr Bakshi was told to put the bill in the ballot. I have no idea what his motivation is whatsoever. 
We have to reflect on that in a week when an earthquake in Canterbury has caused damage that was totally unpredicted and on a scale that we never thought we would see in this country. Who has responded to that? The military are there doing a fine job. Just possibly the military could have done with this bill. They could have done with the need to occupy some private land in order to carry out their manoeuvres. It is unlikely but it is just possible that maybe Mr Bakshi has been a little quick out of the gate and this bill could have been useful to the military this week. 
I do not intend to waste Parliament’s time by taking a long call on this bill. This bill is an absolute waste of time. It is a silly bill that Mr Bakshi should not be proud of. I hope that it speeds through the House and that we see the back of it as quickly as possible. This is not a sensible use of Parliament’s time.