Turei Metiria: Geneva Conventions (Third Protocol—Red Crystal Emblem) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Geneva Conventions (Third Protocol—Red Crystal Emblem) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3526. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 I just want to take a short call on behalf of the Green Party on this legislation the Geneva Conventions (Third Protocol—Red Crystal Emblem) Amendment Bill. We are supporting its referral to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. There are some issues that I just want to briefly explore but the overall purpose of providing a third emblem to enable the work of these agencies which provide a huge amount of humanitarian work to communities under great siege is an important thing. If it means better and safer access for those agencies to those communities that need them around the globe and for the people in those communities to those agencies then that is a good thing. 
There are a couple of issues that I would raise. One is that John Hayes talked earlier about the Pacific and said that this was not such a big issue here in the Pacific. Well actually it is. We understand that the international Red Cross has been kicked out of West Papua by the Indonesian Government and that the New Zealand Government has made no comment or statement at all in opposition to that kind of action. It is quite right that the international Red Cross is in a number of other countries in the Pacific where that is necessary. It is needed in West Papua as well. People are dying there through the colonisation and the siege that they are under from the Indonesian Government and yet the New Zealand Government is simply sitting by and allowing that to happen without comment. That is not acceptable—not acceptable at all. 
I would also note that one of the issues that was raised—and this was touched on briefly by Phil Goff as well—was the issue that the Arab States did not support this convention at the UN and we heard some of the background to that. There are legitimate concerns from those who work in humanitarian areas on humanitarian issues in Palestine that an additional emblem like this may give the Israeli armed forces and the Israeli State a means by which they can continue the oppression of the Palestinian people in some form. We do not know the details of that. We need to understand that better before we can have real comfort in progressing this legislation. I would expect that those issues will be explored at the select committee. 
The overall intention of this legislation is good. There is no doubt though that there are areas—like the issue of West Papua like the issue with Israel and Palestine—that are unsettled. There is no doubt that we have a responsibility as a Parliament if we are to progress this legislation to ensure that we do feel comfortable and are satisfied that those issues are properly resolved. We look forward to hearing from submitters at the select committee about that. No doubt our MP Kennedy Graham who is responsible for global affairs will be very acutely aware of the international sensitivities that arise out of this legislation and its progression. Thank you.