Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm proud to speak in the second reading in support of the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill which is of course a very clear example of how societal change isn't matched by legal changes. When the bill was first introduced in 2017 in August it was of course a National Government at that time and it was changing a piece of legislation that had only been introduced and passed in 1995. But even within this short period of time things have changed further. As others in the House have talked about the fact that it was introduced in 2017 was pretty straightforward—pretty straightforward in terms of just modernising some of the access the ability to change information and access records. It also was looking at burial and cremation law. In 2018 there were significant changes that were recommended. Part of that came from a petition and that just demonstrates for people who are considering petitions to Parliament that what you do what you present to Parliament can make changes. So I would encourage people who want to engage with the Parliament to do exactly that. So the petition to the Governance and Administration Committee did lead to quite substantial changes to the bill which allowed people to change their sex on their birth certificate via an administrative process based on self-identification. Of course it was then withdrawn in 2019 by the then Minister Tracey Martin and Jan Tinetti has done a significant amount of work in 2021 to draft a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) SOP 59 that has been discussed at length today.I do want to put on record though the concerns that my colleague Nicola Grigg clearly outlined and the concerns that the National caucus put in the minority view. I would urge members of the select committee that is going to be dealing with the inquiry to also consider the issues or the concerns that were raised at the time. One of the things that I think is unfortunate is that most people don't get to see the working mechanics of how a select committee actually engages. That's always been probably a disappointment of mine because if you think about where the real work of parliamentarians occurs it's often in that select committee. So I am going to take this opportunity to urge the members on the Governance and Administration Committee to not only deal with the issues in the SOP using their inquiry powers which is an unusual kind of mechanism that the Minister's chosen but also consider the other issues and concerns that the National members raised in the minority view. So there is an opportunity for further input and scrutiny and I'd encourage people to take the opportunity to do that. As the ACT member David Seymour outlined it is a sensitive issue. I would say it's also a complex issue and one we shouldn't shy away from: the very important need to make it easier for a person to change their sex recorded on their birth certificate and the need to maintain women's rights to retain protected spaces and services aimed at women. So I do encourage the public to participate in the inquiry and I do encourage the select committee members to consider the issues on the table. Thank you.