Collins Judith: Royal Succession Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCollins Judith: Royal Succession Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 10 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15428. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Justice): I moveThat the Royal Succession Bill be now read a second time. The Royal Succession Bill makes moderate and considered changes to the rules of royal succession. These changes update the rules ofsuccession to make them more consistent with modern New Zealand society and values. I thank the Justice and Electoral Committee for its careful consideration of the bill. The committee received seven written submissions and heard from four submitters. I am pleased that the committee has reported back unanimously and recommended only one minor technical change. This unanimous agreement shows that the changes are positive for New Zealand’s system of government. I am aware that some submitters raised issues to the committee such as whether New Zealand should become a republic. Wider constitutional changes such as that are outside the scope of this bill.The bill makes three specific changes to the royal succession rules. The changes result from an agreement made at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth in October 2011. All 16 realms of which Her Majesty the Queen is Sovereign agreed to the three specific changes. The realms agreed to implement the changes simultaneously.The first of these changes is that an elder daughter will be allowed to succeed to the Crown ahead of a younger son. This removes gender discrimination which cannot be justified in the modern age. The committee recommended a minor amendment to the bill. The gender-neutral change will apply from 12 noon New Zealand time on 29 October 2011. This minor amendment is reflected in the committee’s proposed changes to clauses 3 and 5 of the bill. It takes account of British summer time and will ensure consistency with the other realms.The second change made by the bill allows a person marrying a Roman Catholic to succeed to or possess the Crown. The current restriction applies only to Roman Catholic spouses not to those following any other religion or no religion at all. The bar has historical reasons and can no longer be justified in modern society.The third change removes the rule that all descendants of King George II must have the Sovereign’s consent to marry. That is replaced with a rule that the first six in line to the throne must seek consent. If consent is not given the marriage remains valid but the person concerned will lose their place in the line of succession. The old rule will have affected many hundreds if not thousands of people. There is a risk that marriages may be technically invalid as a result even without the people concerned being aware. This bill addresses that problem by validating such marriages provided that relevant conditions are met.This bill improves the rules of royal succession to help ensure that they better reflect modern New Zealand values while preserving the essential features of the monarchy that underpin our system of government. I commend this bill to the House.