Shirley Ken: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Shirley Ken: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:616;Page:11966] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 In speaking to the third reading of the Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill I would like to recognise the excellent work done by Captain Dr Wayne Mapp. He was the promoter of the initial bill as a member’s bill. He rose to the rank of captain in the Territorial Force and the bill is a reflection of his commitment to his country. That is what this bill is all about—recognising those who volunteer to serve alongside our full-time professional armed forces in defence of the realm and in protecting our national security. What greater service can one provide? Captain Mapp has certainly made that commitment over time and he should be commended not only for his service in the Territorial Force but also for bringing this bill to Parliament. After he left the Territorial Force he did not forget his mates. He knew the hardship he had endured and he brought this bill here to ensure that others did not suffer that same hardship. 
The shame of it all—it is a shame and I am sorry the Minister of Defence is not here—is that the bill was introduced way back on 20 September 2000. We know that the volunteers of our armed services have been haemorrhaging—absolutely. I have all the graphs. Year after yearthe number of volunteers has been falling off to the point where we are way below critical mass. Everybody knows we need a critical mass in the armed forces to remain effective with capacity. We were given the figures. Not so long ago 8000 territorial volunteers were serving in our armed forces; we are now down to 1800 only and not all of those are active I understand. Perhaps about half of those are active so we are probably down to less than 1000 New Zealanders who are actively volunteering to serve alongside our professional armed forces. That is very bad indeed. 
But the terrible thing is that after Captain Mapp brought this bill to the House it languished on the Order Paper because this Government had no commitment whatsoever. The only time it got moving was when we had some television exposure of the predicament people were in—and all of a sudden the Government wanted to rush it through. The Government actually wrote to me and said it wanted to put the bill through as a Statutes Amendment bill. Of course it needed the consent of all the parties to do that. I said no and I will tell members why I said no. Although Captain Mapp had done a sterling job in the drafting he is not a law draftsman. He may be a law professor but he is not a law draftsman and the bill was deficient. 
Rodney Hide 
: What about Admiral Worth? Did he help? 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: Admiral Worth had his hand in there too I am told. Captain Mapp and Admiral Worth worked on this together. That is not the point though. The point is that it was a deficient bill and it needed to be sent to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. Every speaker in this debate has acknowledged the tremendous work the select committee did and the tremendous assistance the brigadier gave to the committee to bring back a workable bill. Yet this Government having ignored it for all those years and allowed it to languish on the bottom of the Order Paper panicked as it does. It does these U-turns and panics. Everything is done according to public perception. The public were screaming out and asking why the Government was not making a greater commitment. So the Government wanted to rush it through but we stopped them. We stopped them because the bill was deficient. But now we have a bill that can proceed and that is good. 
In the mechanisms of the bill we have the protections of employment. That is important because—I think we were given the figures—20 percent of the six rotations that went to East Timor were Territorial Force soldiers. Twenty percent of six rotations were volunteers. I know because I was a UN observer at the ballot in East Timor in 1999 with Phil Goff and a few other colleagues. We were there when things turned to custard and it was a very ugly scene. We were on the last commercial flight out and the situation certainly needed the involvement of the armed forces. 
We are delighted that New Zealand has played its part in our region. We do not live in a benign region as our Prime Minister has claimed. The Pacific is becoming an increasingly dangerous place; there are some real serious potential security risks in our region and we should be taking defence and security a lot more seriously than this Government is. There is no commitment from this Government but here we have a bill that will hopefully provide some encouragement for those volunteers. 
It is regrettable that when we have debates on defence too much of it is hardware debate—how big the guns are and what sort of tanks and planes we are buying. What really matters in defence is personnel. What we want are highly trained competent multi-skilled personnel and that is the best investment we can make. We then must have a clear strategy and it is only once a clear strategy and competent personnel are in place that we should look at what equipment is needed. Unfortunately so many defence debates hinge on buying tanks or buying light armoured vehicles—all 109 of them. This Government has no idea because its members are all “peaceniks” from the 1960s and 1970s and they now find that by an accident of history they are in Government with no commitment or understanding of what defence of the realm means. That is regrettable and we are suffering as a country. 
Again I congratulate Captain Mapp on bringing this bill here and embarrassing the Minister into getting it through Parliament. We saw the Minister blushing in response to that incredible attack from Major Mark. Major Mark made the Minister of Defence blush here in Parliament this evening. 
Rodney Hide 
: It’s the lack of red meat. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: My colleague suggests it is the lack of red meat. Surely we would not have a Minister of Defence who is a vegetarian would we? Perhaps we have but never mind. Be that as it may. 
Ron Mark 
: Why can’t we see the Territorial Force soldiers at work? 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: Indeed but another point is that the professional soldiers have not given the encouragement they could towards the Territorial Force. It is a bit like the volunteer firemen. The professional firemen actually resent the volunteers and do all sorts of tricks to make their lives uncomfortable and minimise their input. I say that firefighting or defence needs a core of professional multi-skilled well-equipped people but the volunteers are also relied upon. That is certainly the case in firefighting and it is even more the case in defence forces. 
We should look at the way the United States runs its reservist regimes or countries like Switzerland Britain or any country where there is a recognition of the need to retain the skills of people who have an affinity for and have made that commitment to the defence forces. That pool is there to call upon if it is needed because people cannot be trained overnight. There needs to be a continual ethic of training people and having that reserve force and that is what this bill is all about. 
It is regrettable that it has taken so long to get this bill to its third reading. ACT will certainly support it. We say we needed it 5 years ago and it is a shame that this Government let it languish for so long on the Order Paper.