van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise and take a call in the third reading of the Military Justice Legislation Amendment Bill. It's encouraging to see actually that an encouraging mood of congeniality and support has broken out across the House this afternoon. It's splendid and I would like to I guess congratulate the Labour-led Government for their support for this bill. It was originally put forward by the previous Minister of Defence the Hon Mark Mitchell and I thank him for his work on this and subsequently the current Minister of Defence the Hon Ron Mark for continuing this work progressing this through as a necessary piece of legislation to really update and amend some of those aspects around both the military justice system and how that relates to and compares with the civilian system as well.There are a couple of aspects actually. Just before I delve into the detail of it I want to comment on a previous speaker Ian McKelvie's words of support as well in terms of his reference to having three of our defence force bases in his electorate. It's quite a large electorate of course that he looks after and does a fantastic job of representing as a hard-working local MP. I am proud to have been able to have spent some time in his electorate running round in the character-building environment that is the Waiōuru military training area. I have many fond memories—Hon Ron Mark: Good for people. Good for people that.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: —of my time. Yes. Good for your health. Good for the mind—character building indeed. There is nothing quite like seeing a warm car driving along the Desert Road in the distance when the sleet's coming in sideways at 2 in the morning on sentry duty. That aside—Hon Ron Mark: Gives you a reason to get out of bed.TIM VAN DE MOLEN: —ha ha! That's right. It is the reason we get out of bed. Yes infantry all the way.Anyway so coming to this particular bill. Now this is an update really effectively bringing into alignment some of the aspects of the military justice legislation as it exists for that environment. It is I think important to note that there is a unique set of circumstances in any military environment and you do need to have a separate system for military justice compared to a civilian system.Having said that though there are certain elements that should of course be in alignment as much as possible and this bill is bringing those a little close together in some of those aspects—in particular around the onus of proof. It's repealing the previous provision in the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971 that places the onus of proof for defence of a specific charge on to the accused. So really what we're moving now towards is as in the civilian setting innocent until proven guilty in layman's terms. So really it's about better alignment there recognising that that's the more appropriate manner in which to reflect justice through both the military system as well as the current civilian system.Alongside that the other key aspect is around victims' rights. This is really important. We need to be ensuring that the victims' rights are placed at the heart of our decisions in any justice process actually not just this. I would encourage the justice Minister to ensure that he does consider victims' rights if he is holding another summit—hopefully not at similar cost to the last one. That aside victims' rights are absolutely crucial in this environment.One of the other key aspects within this as well was around the fitness to stand trial. In military environments there can be some incredibly confronting situations that soldiers deployed on operations can be faced with—some pretty tough stuff to comprehend that can lead to all sorts of different scenarios playing out. That's certainly not necessarily justification for a particular offence or not but it is a recognition I think of the fact that those situations can be quite unique and quite challenging. Post-traumatic stress disorder—we've seen that recognised a lot more widely in recent years than it was post - World War I and World War II. Although no doubt it was present then it was not understood and appreciated and supported appropriately. We have a much better grasp on some of those mental challenges around mental wellness at the moment; so that I think is part of why we need to be clear around whether or not people are fit to stand trial in this situation.The key aspect here as I mentioned is modernising these three bills to make sure that they're actually in alignment—the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971 the Court Martial Act 2007 and the Court Martial Appeals Act 1953. So if we can bring all those into alignment I'm confident we'll have a much better outcome for our military justice system and for those who are bound by and operate within those parameters as well. I would just like to take a moment to thank all members of our defence forces for the incredible work that they have done throughout their tenure in those particular services—whichever one it may be—and for what they are doing currently and will continue to do. It is an incredible job. They put their lives on the line for our country. They do any number of tasks that are above and beyond on a regular basis so that everyone in New Zealand can enjoy a prosperous successful life. We are also contributing to global stability which is an important aspect for us as a major trading nation in terms of those relationships with our trade and international partners. Defence contribution plays a significant role especially around peacekeeping missions these days which is much more encouraging than all the war that we did see throughout the last century on two major occasions of course.So look with that I think I would just like to finish up by thanking the current Minister the previous Minister again and also the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee for their work in this. It passed through effectively without amendment other than including Supplementary Order Paper 37. So really I think we've got a good conclusion here and I therefore commend this bill to the House.