Carter John: Civil Aviation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Carter John: Civil Aviation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:615;Page:11353] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 I want to follow my colleague from Rangitikei Simon Power in exploring the matter of the commencement dates. I ask the Minister to give us a comment on this particular aspect because I was just starting to search through the bill to see what it meant. I only got to page 7 when it started to get to the stage of being just about impossible to know exactly what commences when— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Perhaps I can help the member. There are amendments on the Table that help the member. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Could my colleague pass me the amendments? It may help. 
Simon Power 
: Which ones would the member like? 
JOHN CARTER 
: The ones regarding the commencement dates. I hope they are not too clear otherwise they will take away a lot of my speech. I am looking at the amendment that states: “To omit from the heading to Part 1 the words ‘31 December 2003 or earlier’ and substitute the word ‘a’.” What does that mean? The second reads “To omit from the heading to Part 2 the word ‘March’ and substitute the word ‘June’.” All we know now is that the rest of the Act comes into force on 1 June. Is that what the Minister is telling us? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Yes. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Well that is fine but it does not help me with the question I was going to ask the Minister which is: if we look at the commencement date clause 2(1) states that “sections 4(1) 5 6(1) and (2)” for example come into force on 31 December or on “an earlier date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council.” I ask the Minister whether that is correct. That is what it says is it not? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: You’re on to it. 
JOHN CARTER 
: I am on to it. But it is confusing that clause 6(1) and (2) commences on 31 December so why does clause 6(3) not commence on the same date? I am trying to understand the difference between clause 6(1) and (2) and clauses 6(3) and 7 for example. I cannot see any rational difference. There may be a good reason why those provisions are left out and will now come into force on 1 June and the Minister might like to give some explanation about it. 
There are many other clauses the Minister might want to explain to the Committee and to the many people who will be listening as to what the difference is between those parts that now commence on 1 June and the rest that will commence on a date appointed by the Governor-General—because they obviously cannot come into force on 31 December 2003. Even I have clicked on to that bit. 
The second point I want to raise with the Minister is this—and he might want to help me because I am not that familiar with the bill; he might have clicked on to that— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: We can tell. 
JOHN CARTER 
: That is OK because I am doing my best—and I bet that the bell rings before I sit down. I want to get on to the purpose of the bill which is to implement the Australia - New Zealand aviation mutual recognition agreements. I want the Minister to clarify what that means. Does it now mean that Air New Zealand can negotiate a right or has a right to fly domestically in Australia? Is that where the legislation is going? Does that mean Air New Zealand can land planes in Alice Springs and take passengers from Alice Springs to Darwin? Are we expanding here— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Could well be. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Are we on to it? 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: We’re on to it. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Really? Good grief! Very good so does that also mean that Qantas will continue to fly in here which it tends to do anyway and offer competition? In other words I ask whether what we are doing is balancing up. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: That’s right. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Well I have to say that that is a positive thing. 
The Minister might want to comment then on what reports he has had of the implications the agreement has for Air New Zealand its ability to compete and its ability to fly as a successful airline in that field. Does the fact that it can expand into a population base of some 18 million— 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: No 19 million. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Oh well let us not be pedantic—19 million.