Fenton Darien: Civil Aviation (Cape Town Convention and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Civil Aviation (Cape Town Convention and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 22 June 2010. Volume:664;Page:12029. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 While the Minister is consulting I ask that he take note of my questions as well because they are serious questions. I will refer to new Part 12 and the interpretation clause. I note that the national interest analysis states that although reservations are not permitted declarations are. It states: “Article 56 of the convention and Article XXX of the Aircraft Protocol provide that States may make up to 20 declarations ‘opting in’ or ‘opting out’ of various articles in the Convention and the Aircraft Protocol. Declarations are intended to allow some tailoring of the Convention and Aircraft Protocol to domestic circumstances.” It goes on to state that some declarations must be made at the time of accession. 
I am very very interested to get information from the Minister about declarations. In new section 104(1) declaration means “a declaration made by New Zealand under the Cape Town Convention and the Aircraft Protocol”. I am very interested to know whether the Government intends to make any declarations on accession in relation to the convention and whether it has any intention to make future declarations. It is a very very important question. I know that the Minister is occupied at the moment but I would like an answer to that because the answer may well make a difference in terms of whether we continue to vote for the bill. A declaration can completely change the nature of a convention so it is very very important that we get an answer to that. 
The other part of my question relating to new Part 12 is that there is a definition of a “Contracting State” which means “a State that is a party to the Cape Town Convention and the Aircraft Protocol”. In the national interest analysis it talks about the “Obligations which would be imposed on New Zealand by the treaty action the position for reservations to the convention and an outline of any dispute settlement mechanisms.” I have read this several times and I appreciate the efforts to which people have gone to try to make this clear to us but I really cannot understand much of what it means. I suppose my question is what it means in terms of the obligations of New Zealand. What will we have to do as a country? Will there have to be Budget appropriations for the implementation of this convention? Will it require more resources for the Civil Aviation Authority? Will the Governor-General need to have more resources? I would like some clarification of what the obligations are for New Zealand and what the implications are in terms of resourcing. Now that the Minister has returned from his distraction I draw his attention— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: China’s not a distraction. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: I know he is working; I am not being critical. I know he is just trying to get an answer to our questions. My question earlier I say to the Minister was about declarations and whether we intend to make any declarations on accession to the convention because they must be made at the time of the treaty according to the national interest analysis. I would like to know if that is the case what they are and what difference it will make in terms of the international obligations we have as a country under this convention.