Visiting Forces Bill

I will not take a full 5-minute call, the Government senior whip will be relieved to know. I do want to ask the Minister in the chair one question, and given that this is not the Minister’s legislation, I will give him the opportunity to seek some advice. The proposed bill strikes out its applying in Tokelau. The new clause 24 says that this bill is not in force in Tokelau. It states down the bottom in very small print, “Compare: 1939 No 36 s 7”. So I did, and I have it here. The original Visiting Forces Act 1939 did apply in Tokelau. In fact, it applied in the Cook Islands and Tokelau as if those forces were part of home forces. That is the only issue I wish to raise. I wonder whether the Minister would be good enough to reassure the House that that particular clause will not get us into any difficulty in the future.

I can quickly answer that question asked by Simon Power. Tokelau has asked to be outside this measure. As is usual, we have agreed.

Part 3 agreed to.

Schedule 1 agreed to.

Schedule 2 Consequential amendments to other Acts

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 212 in the name of the Hon Mark Burton to schedule 2 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to, and schedule 2 as amended agreed to.

Clause 1 agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment.