Ball DarrochDARROCH BALL (NZ First): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. This is my first speech of this Parliament and being part of this new Government Madam Deputy Speaker so congratulations on your appointment. I'll be taking a relatively short call on this because for one I'm not going to stand up and try and pretend that I'm a lawyer whether it be current recovering or indeed a professor on the matter; nor am I going to pretend that I knew what tort" actually meant before last week's caucus when I was handed this bill. This bill was spoken on on behalf of New Zealand First through the last Parliament by Denis O'Rourke and I've taken over for the third reading of an Opposition member's bill that looks like it's going to be passed in this House. I didn't see it through the Justice and Electoral Committee and I would suggest that there are a number of people—if not everyone—in this House who know more about it than what I do. Actually when Clayton Mitchell the whip of New Zealand First gave me this bill to read when he said the words "choice of law in tort" I actually thought he was talking about a French pastry or something to that effect. Actually it was an interesting read to find out what "tort" meant.Hon Ruth Dyson: Someone get the smelling salts for the Hon Christopher Finlayson.DARROCH BALL: Yeah. I mentioned I went through the second readings and through the Hansard to see what it meant and what the different positions were of the different parties and one of the things that the Hon David Parker said was that unless you were a lawyer you'd be struggling to find any sort of relevance and more importantly any sort of enjoyment going through this bill. Actually Todd Muller had a good quote as well in the second reading and he said words to the effect that he had just endured two hours of pain on this utterly dry matter. I am struggling to actually be able to disagree with him on that point.Dr Duncan Webb: Oh the horror!DARROCH BALL: I'm sorry. I know that the professor has some emotional attachment to this; however I do not. But like I said one positive for me was that I found out what "tort" actually meant and what this bill was doing and the relevance of this bill. Actually it's been mentioned a couple of times that the bill is complex and that it changes the current legislation to ensure that it's more simple to follow and that's always a good thing to support.So the word "tort" actually I found was of French origin—that's correct—and is actually derived from the meaning of "wrong". "A tort is a wrongful act other than a breach of contract"—so we're not talking about contract or criminal law—"that results in civil liability. Currently where an action is brought in a New Zealand court for a tort committed outside [of] New Zealand the common law rule of double actionability applies." I know we've heard it and I don't really want to lecture on it too much but what this changes is the fact that "The bill will abolish the rule of double actionability and establish the general rule that the applicable law is the law of the country where the events constituting the tort occurred." So I've learnt those two things going through this entire process.Hon Ruth Dyson: Can you just run over that again?DARROCH BALL: Yeah—ha ha! So in essence it does two important things. It simplifies and clarifies the issues with the cross-border torts and that has been needed for some time and is widely supported. It also brings us in line with jurisdictions similar to New Zealand.I'd also like to just make a very quick and important note that when the committee heard submissions on it there were only two submissions. That was from the New Zealand Law Society and from a professor who was also a QC. Both submissions supported the bill and the intent of the bill and in fact the recommendations that those submitters actually brought forward—most if not all of them were adapted and amended to the bill. Being that the changes are widely accepted and widely supported New Zealand First will support this bill through the House. Thank you."