Coddington Deborah: Civil Aviation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Coddington Deborah: Civil Aviation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:615;Page:11362] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
: 
 I would like to suggest that Keith Locke move an amendment to clause 15A because I think that he is absolutely right—people who take knitting needles on to planes should be exempt. It would be very easy to draft an amendment and I suggest that he does so that we have an amendment in the bill that respects the right of knitters. Also I say to the Minister that it does not appear to me that there is a treaty clause in the bill. There is nothing in the bill that states that it must not act in a way that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. I would like Mr Mallard to come down and explain why that is because I think it is an absolute disgrace that this bill does not respect the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. I turn now to New Zealand First which is obviously setting itself up to be the new coalition partner for Labour—if it thinks that Labour will be re-elected. That is a dance of the desperate if there ever was one. But I return to the issue of self-defence. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Let me answer you on the Treaty of Waitangi. The Australians don’t have the Treaty of Waitangi. 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: I thank the Minister. That is very wise too. They have Mabo. When I went to Cambridge there was an incident on the plane— 
Darren Hughes 
: Who paid for it? 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: —Qantas paid for it—and everyone was told to return to their seats and do their seatbelts up. It appeared that somebody had run amok—one of the passengers was threatening to kill everybody on board. The Qantas aircrew managed to restrain him and handcuff him to the seat 2 hours out of Heathrow. If I had had a gun I would have quite happily put a bullet between his eyes in order to save 490 people in that jumbo jet. What is more important? The lives of 490 people or some nutter who cannot handle his alcohol on a plane and threatens to kill everybody else? To me there is no question. 
Brent Catchpole 
: What about tweezers? 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: The member questions not being able to take tweezers on to the plane. As Keith Locke pointed out it is probably quite sensible that one cannot take tweezers on to a plane because as Keith Locke says one could pluck people to death. The same is true of nail files—one could file them to death. Those thick-skinned New Zealand First people would be fine because one would be filing away for ever and it would take too long to kill them. 
I turn now to the provisions in the bill that deal with airlines delaying passengers and having to be responsible for that. We did argue about that at the select committee and it was pointed out to us that airlines do take their responsibilities very seriously voluntarily and if they muck passengers around they do in general help them out put them up and that sort of thing. What about the other way round which the bill does not deal with? What about people who delay an aircraft? I have seen members of Parliament sitting in the Koru lounge eating and holding up a flight. There are no prizes for guessing who that was. 
Brent Catchpole 
: They should be left behind. 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: Absolutely! They should be left behind because they disadvantage the whole airline. The whole schedule gets behind. There is no compensation for the airline in terms of that. 
Hon Members 
: Shoot them all! 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: New Zealand First members are agreeing with me. “Shoot them all” they are saying. But I think that part of the bill went a bit too far. Perhaps the Minister in the chair Harry Duynhoven might like to take a call and explain. He is gesticulating at me and trying to talk to me in sign language with a bandaged hand and it is very difficult to read sign language from someone with a bandaged hand.