Williams PotoPOTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East): I want to confine my contribution at this time to the impacts of this piece of legislation on family or the role that family would actually like to play with regard to coronial inquests and inquiries into deaths of loved ones. The reason I put family at the centre of my contribution is that I believe that the coroner's role has three prime responsibilities. One of the prime reasons that we would want the coroner's work to continue is in order to find cause of death so that we may put in place measures that could prevent future deaths of that nature. The second reason would be so that if the death is as a result of a crime adequate information and evidence is produced in order for that crime to be prosecuted appropriately and accordingly. The third reason and for me one of the prime reasons is so that the family of the deceased person feels that the manner in which that person lost their life has been adequately investigated and that due measures are put in place to prevent it happening to any other family. There are parts of this piece of legislation that speak specifically to the role of families in the process. I speak specifically as I did during the Committee stage on the handling of deceased bodies and what may happen when an investigation happens to that body and some of the parts particularly tissue are not returned to family. There are huge cultural implications around the treatment of deceased persons. In my own culture it would be unusual for a dead body of our loved one when they are deceased to be on their own at any point in time. We go to great pains to ensure that a family member is with that body at all times until they are interred. So for families who submitted like the Still family whose daughter was killed as a result of the Wairarapa balloon crash to anguish over not being able to see their daughter's body and not being able to be in touch with her tūpāpaku—that is in our culture hugely distressing and their distress came through in their submission. It would be one thing that we would really encourage future examinations of the coroner's process to really hold in high regard—that families at this time are in distress. There is no doubt that the process has improved over time but there is also no doubt that there are improvements still to be made. The examination of this piece of legislation has led to the Māori Affairs Committee launching an inquiry into the handling of tūpāpaku because it is an important cultural aspect. It is an important cultural part of our lives—the rituals and the rites that must occur when someone has died. So in that regard I want to encourage that the coroner's process does take family wishes into full regard. When the body is not returned to the family completely whole there is also an implication from that. The family should be notified when and if that process can occur to ensure that the body can be interred completely. Sometimes that cannot occur so the family must be consulted fully as to how they would like the treatment of the body to occur. Just in conclusion I do want to touch on the amendments in the name of Phil Goff because again I feel it is really important that the role of families of members of the Defence Force when their loved ones are killed overseas should be considered in the process. Thank you.