Dalziel Lianne: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Dalziel Lianne: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8922] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Women’s Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. It is my privilege as Minister of Women’s Affairs to move an amendment that will remove the last statutory discrimination against New Zealand women thereby enabling the Government to lift the reservation to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW which we have in place due to that provision. I want to read the reservation to the House. It states: “The Government of New Zealand the Government of the Cook Islands and the Government of Niue reserve the right not to apply the provisions of the Convention in so far as they are inconsistent with policies relating to recruitment into or service in (a) the Armed Forces which reflect either directly or indirectly the fact that members of such forces are required to serve on armed forces aircraft or vessels and in situations involving armed combat or (b) the law enforcement forces which reflect either directly or indirectly the fact that members of such forces are required to serve in situations involving violence or threat of violence.” 
When the Human Rights Act was passed in 1993 the New Zealand armed forces still had a policy of not allowing women to serve in combat roles and therefore the Government needed to include an exemption for the armed forces covering sexual discrimination in employment matters. Since then attitudes and practices have moved on. In 2002 the Chief of Defence Force lifted all restrictions on the deployment of women in combat roles and indeed asked service chiefs to establish procedures for the employment of women in trades from which they were previously excluded with a goal of full integration by 2005. The Navy had already opened the diving branch to women in February 2000 thus removing the last restricted trade within that service. For the Army the issue was more complex and it followed a phased implementation. During the debate on this bill people have asked why it has taken so long to bring this matter before the House. There is the answer to that question. A phased change in practice in our armed forces has required us to take to this time. The purpose for which the exemption under section 33 of the Human Rights Act was granted by this House no longer exists which is why we are now able to remove it. 
This is a relatively small change but an important one symbolically because it completes the objective of equality before the law for New Zealand women. With this change New Zealand will be able to meet its international obligations in relation to the rights of women and we will be able to move quickly to remove the one remaining reservation under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women—and in fact the national interest analysis has already been referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for its consideration. We will be able at last to confirm that New Zealand gives unqualified support to the convention. 
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is often described as an international bill of rights for women. The convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. It defines discrimination against women as “any distinction exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition enjoyment or exercise by women irrespective of their marital status on a basis of equality of men and women of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political economic social cultural civil or any other field.” By accepting the convention States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms including incorporating the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system abolishing all discriminatory laws and adopting appropriate laws that prohibit discrimination against women. States also commit themselves to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination and the elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons organisations or enterprises. 
Countries that have ratified or acceded to the convention are legally bound to put its provisions into practice. They are also committed to submitting national reports at least every 4 years on measures they have taken to comply with their treaty obligations. New Zealand has already submitted its written report—its sixth report—and will be appearing in front of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in August this year. 
New Zealand’s reservation to the convention also extends to the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau as members will note from the comments I made before. Tokelau and Niue are covered by the law change and they have agreed to be associated with New Zealand’s action to withdraw the reservation. The Cook Islands has now acceded to the convention in its own right and it may withdraw its reservation independently if it wishes to do so. 
I should point out that although we can be proud of achieving this change in our law and of our ability now to fully comply with the convention it is also important to recognise that full equality before the law and full equality in practice are often two different things. It is relatively easy to change the law especially when as in this case we follow rather than lead practice. It often takes much longer to change the culture attitudes and behaviour that lead to discrimination occurring in practice. We can see that lag in areas like equal pay for work of equal value where discrimination on the basis of sex has actually been unlawful in terms of our legislative framework for over 30 years but still a stubborn pay gap remains—a gap that cannot be fully explained by women taking time out of the workforce and gender segregation in employment. 
The armed forces have themselves recognised that simply saying to women they are no longer prohibited from taking up a particular role is not enough. They have been making the other necessary changes which range from changes to equipment to removing strength barriers to such employment to measures to prevent bullying and harassment including sexual harassment. Even with those changes the pace at which women enter these non-traditional roles will be slow—just as they have been slow to enter traditionally male trades and professions in other parts of the economy. Nevertheless society will continue to change and over time I am sure we will see many more women in our armed forces including more of them in leadership roles. 
In recommending this legislation to the House I would like to again acknowledge those who have helped to bring us to this point. The leadership of the New Zealand Defence Force deserve credit for taking action to change the force’s own rules and procedures in order to remove discrimination against women. I want to thank three women officers who came to Parliament today to reflect that this was an important day. I acknowledge Warrant Officer A J Pereira from the Army Corporal Anj Ball from the Air Force and Lieutenant Paula McKenzie from the Navy. I thank them for coming today to acknowledge that this is an important day for women in New Zealand—and not just for those in the armed forces. Between them those three officers have served in the Sinai in East Timor and in Afghanistan and I appreciate their willingness to represent women in each arm of the New Zealand Defence Force on this important occasion. I also acknowledge the service they undertake on behalf of their country alongside their male colleagues. 
I also want to acknowledge the member for Waitakere Lynne Pillay who deserves particular credit for bringing this matter before the House as a member’s bill. I thank her for allowing the Government to take over the bill. This is the speech she should have been giving and I am very grateful I have the opportunity to deliver it in her place. The reason the Government wanted to bring the bill before the House was that it was trapped behind the debate on section 59 of the Crimes Act on members’ day and there was no guarantee that we could have had it passed through all of its stages in time for the reporting to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in August this year. So I thank Lynne Pillay on behalf of the women of New Zealand as well. 
I particularly thank my colleagues the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Defence who too were pleased to see this bill adopted as a Government bill. Finally I commend the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for its constructive consideration of the bill and all members of the House for their support of the proposition that no New Zealand woman should be discriminated against. 
It will be with considerable pride as New Zealand’s Minister of Women’s Affairs that I will report that we have expedited the steps necessary for the withdrawal of our remaining reservation to the convention as asked of us in the committee’s last report to New Zealand. I commend the bill to the House.