Carter Chris: Cultural Property (Protection in Armed Conflict) Bill — Second Reading 
Carter Chris: Cultural Property (Protection in Armed Conflict) Bill — Second Reading 
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Hon CHRIS CARTER (Labour—Te Atatu) 
: 
 I am not sure whether to laugh or what after those final comments from the previous speaker the Hon Chris Finlayson. What I am pleased to say is that the Cultural Property (Protection in Armed Conflict) Bill which of course was a Labour Government bill is being continued and supported by the National-led Government through the legislative process. 
Our former colleague the Hon Judith Tizard introduced the bill in her role as Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. She was as was the previous Labour Government and particularly the previous Prime Minister Helen Clark passionate about the preservation of culture and the protection of culture. 
Members of the House will remember that Helen Clark took the unusual step when she became Prime Minister in 1999 of taking the portfolio of arts culture and heritage. As she said at the time—and it is very pertinent to the debate around this bill—there is nothing more important to a country and a society than its culture. It is one of the ways in which we define our unique identity as New Zealanders and the protection of culture is something this bill seeks to ensure in an armed conflict situation. 
Is there a need for the bill? Well history has shown very much that there is. I can think of numerous examples from history where in conflict invasion and revolution there has been enormous loss of treasures. Often the bulk of the treasures that have defined and been the product of unique cultures are lost. One can think of the invasion of Mexico by Hernando Cortés or of Francisco Pizarro’s invasion of Peru the destruction of the Aztec and Inca empires and the loss of the incredible cultural heritage of those regions through armed conflict between cultures. I think of the Allied invasion of the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1899. Much of China’s unique cultural heritage was either destroyed or stolen and transported to the museums of Europe and Japan by the invading armies. 
So it has happened in history. Can it happen today? Indeed it can. We need only think of a short time ago in history when the American-led invasion of Iraq saw all Iraq’s museums—all of them—looted. It is estimated that some 15000 objects were taken from Iraq—the land of the two rivers the home of ancient Mesopotamia where agriculture began. Many of the unique treasures— 
Interruption 
] Did I hear someone from the Government say “Good job!”? I have to say that stealing a country’s cultural heritage which this bill seeks to protect is not something that is funny or should be made a joke about. 
Some of the objects stolen from the Iraqi museums are over 9000 years old. They date back to the end of the Ice Age and the beginning of agriculture which set human beings on the progress to civilisation. Those treasures have been looted in a war situation. That is what we seek to prevent. 
Another contemporary example is the looting of art treasures that occurred during World War II first by the Nazis in occupied Europe and then by the liberating Red Army as it conquered most of Eastern Europe. The art treasures particularly artworks were taken from Berlin and other German cities and then later of course transported east into the cities of the Soviet Union. 
Those examples are very practical and contemporary and show why we need legislation like this to protect a nation’s cultural heritage. Another example occurred in Bamian where our provincial reconstruction team is doing such an excellent job—which is soon to be ended by a decision of the National Government. Two great statues of Buddha that had stood in Bamian for thousands for years were blown up by the Taliban in their mad desire to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Afghanistan. 
 The Cultural Property (Protection in Armed Conflict) Bill is a Labour bill that is supported by the new National Government. We are very pleased about that. It is an important bill as the previous Government speaker said. It ties us into the work Unesco is doing and that is very important. This bill has the wholehearted support of the Labour Party. How could it not? It was our bill.