te Heuheu Georgina: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8924] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to stand to the third reading of the Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill. I commend the Minister Lianne Dalziel who has just taken her seat for the detailed explanations of the time frame of this bill and why it has taken the bill so long to finally come to the House. I commend Lynne Pillay for bringing the bill which was originally in her name to the House as well. But as I say Lianne Dalziel demonstrated why it had taken this long to come before the House. I certainly have raised that issue in my previous contributions to the debate. 
As has been said the purpose of the bill is to repeal section 33 of the Human Rights Act 1993 to allow women employed in the armed forces to participate in active combat roles. In so doing the last exemption for sexual discrimination in employment matters applying to the military is removed. National supports that—of course we support it. Given New Zealand’s record in any event in the human rights area I suppose it is surprising that it has taken until 2007 for this legislation to come about. But we have a good record and this bill will help it. 
Basically it will enable women—in the military at least—to know that in a legislative sense they are fully recognised for their contribution to our armed forces. As the numbers of female participants increase—and maybe this will be a spur for those numbers to rise now that they will be fully recognised—then we all benefit. New Zealand will benefit. I salute the women who are currently in the military in all three services: the army the navy and the air force. I admire them. Like all participants in the military they enter because they have a desire to serve New Zealand often overseas and in areas—as currently—where although they go under this Labour Government’s banner of a peace-keeping role that peace-keeping requires nonetheless that they are fully trained and fully alert as if in a combat role anyway. As I say I salute all of the women in New Zealand’s military. 
I want to make reference just as a matter of interest to what Tariana Turia the Maori Party member went into in some detail I think in the first reading. It is interesting that in Maori tradition there was never any discrimination at all in the valuable roles that women played. So Maori history and tradition are replete with women serving in times of warfare along with their male counterparts. Women were leaders in some of the famous battles. So I suppose from a Maori perspective we might stand here and say that it has certainly taken a long time for this discrimination to be removed. In the Land Wars in the 1860s in New Zealand’s early history Maori women were to the fore in battles against the British Army. So in standing here a Maori person as I am I might say that this legislation is long overdue. Be that as it may if we take our history beyond just the officially recognised wars—the First World War the Second World War and so on—we can say that women have been to the fore in warfare and in the military in New Zealand since the 1860s. That is certainly how I see it. Our Maori history is full of very competent capable women leaders—women in the military who played a very important role. 
The only other point I suppose that I wish to make reference to—and I have raised it in previous contributions as well—is the fact that the New Zealand demographic shows there are actually more women in New Zealand than men and in looking forward we know too that the workforce of the future is also Maori. So I hope that the military has strategies in place that seek in earnest to lift the numbers of females in the military because they have proven that they are as capable and competent as anyone else. And although the numbers are rising they are going up very slowly. The percentage for women in the military in 2005 was 16.2 and in 2006 it was 16.5. That percentage does not match the percentage of women in the overall population. Given that there is now no discrimination of any kind against women serving in the military as I say I will be interested to know whether there are strategies in place that seek to lift those numbers. They are too low at the moment. They are rising but in my view they are not rising quickly enough. Now that we have removed this last vestige of discrimination it may be that that is a spur for New Zealand women generally to realise that we are serious in recognising their valued contribution to the military. 
The Minister referred also to the ability that New Zealand will now have to be fully compliant with our obligations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. As a former Minister of Women’s Affairs I am very pleased that that compliance is about to happen. Despite what some may think about National and its attitude to that committee it has had a history of some very fine people being involved in developing our participation in the committee—namely the former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright who has moved on to even greater responsible things. She was a guiding light a mover and a shaker in the development of New Zealand’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 
So it is good in all respects that not only do we recognise the desire of New Zealand women to be fully recognised for the role they play in our employment environment—not least in the military—but we recognise that we are taking a modern move today. It fits in with where women are and with where women want to be—recognised on merit and their abilities. New Zealand is a leader in that regard. At the same time as I say we satisfy some international obligations so National supports this bill.