Statutes Amendment Bill (No 5)

I would like to speak on Part 10, which refers largely to the amendment of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association under the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981. There are few organisations where I have found a warmer reception from people around Anzac Day than the RSA.

💬 Simon Power: Point well made!

I thank the member. However, like so many organisations associated with a particular time in history, it does need to increase its membership. Therefore I notice its change of name from just Returned Services Association to Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association. I know that the organisation is including additional people who have not necessarily had any association with the armed forces at all. It is all about community—community and belonging. The National Party is particularly proud to subscribe to those aspects. Small communities have their own beliefs and practices, and they can get on and celebrate what they represent.

One of the things I find fascinating, having been a member since September, is the total preoccupation of the present Government—and I include the utterances from members of the Government’s attendant parties—with the National Party. We seem to be all they ever talk about, and I wonder why. They clearly have a deep-seated anxiety problem about their own precarious political platform. I understand—and have been told—that this precarious political platform is something they have arrived at after a panic pandemic over not being able to quickly form a Government as easily as they thought they could. It has been suggested to me that this panic pandemic sweeping through their ranks is what led to the baubles, bangles, and beads being buckled together to try to buy beneficence from others.

It goes to show, though, that you get what you pay for. That is all you are going to get, but the rest of us have to live with it, too. In the case of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, it is seeking to amend its membership, it is seeking to increase its membership, and it is seeking to continue its role in the community—and I wish to support that.

Part 10 agreed to.

Part 11 agreed to.

Part 12 Gambling Act 2003