Barker Rick: Electoral (Vacancies) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Barker Rick: Electoral (Vacancies) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:610;Page:7787] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Associate Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I want to start with clause 6 and follow on from the comments made by Mr Jones. I do not agree with the interpretation he put to the Committee. My advice is that people can in fact renounce New Zealand citizenship. There is on occasions a requirement that one does so if one takes out the citizenship of another country. 
Thepoint I want to make is that the advice the officials gave us and the advice that was given as I understand it to the Privileges Committee is that it is possible for someone to come into this House with two citizenships—that is perfectly legal—and that it is perfectly legal for that person in that circumstance then to renounce his or her New Zealand citizenship. The law is silent on that. That is one part of it. 
I come back to the question—raised initially by Roger Sowry—as to why we have determined that the bill shall come into effect on 14 August and go right through to the end of the electoral cycle. The reason is quite simply to cover the whole election period the whole of the Parliament and all members of Parliament. That is why we have not put the bill in the name of an individual MP. 
That brings me to the other question that Roger Sowry asked me which was whether I personally have any knowledge of another person in this situation. The answer to that question is that no I do not. But it seems to me to be sensible in drafting this legislation to make it a piece of law that applies to all members for the term of this Parliament. 
I restate my advice which I am giving to members now for the fourth or fifth time that after this bill is passed and certainly within the next few days I will be writing to the Justice and Electoral Committee and I will be drawing this matter to its attention. I will be asking the select committee to undertake some work on this particular area as members of Parliament are obviously very concerned to make sure that the rules are correct that we have the right balance and that we have not simply incorporated old legislation without giving it the careful consideration that we should therefore leaving ourselves open to unintended consequences. I would have thought that a thorough sensible review by the Justice and Electoral Committee would be a good thing and that it would be supported widely by this Parliament. 
It is the intention that prior to this Parliament rising another bill will be introduced and the law will be changed. It will be clear to all and we will have a consistent set of logic applying to it. At the moment it is perfectly fine for a person to come into this House with dual citizenship but if that person somehow during the term of the Parliament simply acknowledges as Mr Duynhoven has done that he or she is entitled to another nationality or citizenship he or she is suddenly sprung from it. 
I have to say that nobody in this country would have any doubts about Harry Duynhoven’s origins. His name is a very good indication of that. All have known that he has been a Dutch national. He has been very proud of that. He has advocated for that community because of his historical links to it. There is no doubt about that so there is no question about the public being duped in any way.