Mapp Wayne: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Mapp Wayne: Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:616;Page:11958] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 I move  
That the Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill and the Defence Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time 
. The people who serve our defence forces are being recognised today particularly those who serve as reservists be that in the Army the Navy or a very small number in the Air Force. Because I believe that this legislation will pass unopposed Parliament is today enhancing their role and recognising their service. 
It does so essentially in three ways. It provides—and this is a critical point—the protection of their employment in an event where the Government has made a declaration of national interest. Something like East Timor would qualify. 
Secondly the legislation establishes—and this is very important in terms of building up our reservists—an employers’ support council and gives it a statutory basis. In the past such organisations have been voluntary. This time it will have a statutory basis. 
Thirdly it gives the Government power to pass regulations that will enable employers to be compensated when their employees are serving on deployments that are declared to be of national interest. 
I acknowledge the hard work of the select committee chaired by Mr Peter Dunne who carefully steered this legislation through heard the evidence and sought to promote the bill. I acknowledge the Government’s part in that and the numerous meetings that were held. I also acknowledge the defence forces and in particular Brigadier Tim Brewer for whom this legislation has been a particular commitment. He will remain committed to building the reservists. 
However the most important thanks have to go to the men and women who choose—essentially in their spare time outside their employment often at big sacrifice to family life—to serve their country through the defence forces. That often goes quite unremarked and a lot of people do not really appreciate how important it is until we need them. This country needed them in East Timor. Twenty percent of the six rotations of battalions to East Timor consisted of Territorial Force volunteers. That is quite a significant number. 
Many told me that—and this was the motivating force behind the bill—they had had to give up their jobs as they could not negotiate an appropriate arrangement with their employer. But at that point they had spent maybe 10 years or longer in the New Zealand Defence Force. They wanted to put their practice to meaningful use serving their country in a cause that everyone in this Parliament and indeed everyone in this nation saw as valuable—literally building a new nation in our region after the terrible circumstances of the preceding 20 years in East Timor. We owe them a debt. 
One of the things that this House has to reflect upon—and more the country has to reflect upon—is why so many of those young and not so young men and women have had to make that sacrifice of giving up their employment. I suggest that unlike perhaps the United States and unlike Britain our employers and our community have lost the knowledge of the value of people serving the country through the defence forces. It is not something that takes away but something that adds. People learn leadership skills self-reliance and responsibility for self. 
All of that of course is valuable through their Defence Force careers. It is valuable in a much wider way as well. It helps them in their lives; it helps their employers and their communities. It builds the ethic of service—service to other people in the community. That is why the Territorial Force and the naval reservists have been so valuable. But it is a culture that is declining—today only 1800 people are in the Territorial Force. 
Ron Mark 
: How many? 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: The figure is 1800. When I was in the Defence Force in the 1970s 1980s and early 1990s there were up to 7000. There was a well-understood base of knowledge in the community of the value of that service. But things have changed. The reality is that at the very time when the numbers have been going down we are asking reservists to do more than ever. What I am hoping from this bill and particularly from the Employer Support Council is an opportunity to rebuild the territorial and reservist forces—that voluntary action. 
Frankly—and the Minister should take note of this—this is the cheapest way to rebuild the Defence Force. We often need to use it particularly in the difficult and demanding jobs of peacekeeping. People who have had experience through their civilian world have an acute understanding of peacekeeping. They bring a broader and wider perspective and that has been well understood throughout the years. Britain and the United States are learning the value of that experience in Iraq today. Those who have that broader experience have a clearer and more coherent understanding of how to interact with civilians who frankly are often doing much the same jobs living much the same lives as they would be in their own countries. It is a sensitivity to the people of the host country. 
I want to acknowledge the debt that this country owes to our reservists. I want to tell the Government that it is time to rebuild them because we will need them again. It is a pity that the bill has had to take 4 years. When I introduced this bill it was only 10 months after the initial deployment to East Timor. I was hoping that it would be passed in time for at least one or two of the deployments to East Timor to have the benefit of it. It would have taken a year to pass the bill into legislation which is not an unreasonable request. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: We would have to rewrite the whole bill. 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: That member had a whole year to do that. It is unfortunate that we could not do it in time. It is certainly an issue I raised at the time but time has passed and that opportunity has been lost. It is a good thing we are at least doing it now for the future. I would like to see the legislation ultimately extended so that it covers people who go on individual deployments such as UN observers in the Golan Heights and Lebanon. I think it would serve with value there. Maybe the Minister will take advice on that issue. 
I conclude by saying that this is a great day for the men and women who serve our country through the armed forces on a part-time voluntary basis. I know many of them have been waiting for this legislation. They value it not just for the particular protections it provides but because it is an opportunity to kick-start the ethic and value of the reservists in our defence forces. I am certainly hopeful that it will achieve part of that goal. I will be focusing particularly on how the Government puts this legislation into action to build our defence forces because they serve our country in such an important way.