Collins Judith: Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Collins Judith: Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15901] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 I congratulate Dianne Yates on having the gumption to bring this bill to the House and on working with the Health Committee to make sure she got a bill that I believe the vast majority of parliamentarians here will support. 
The fact is that regulations of this particular nature are not going to please everybody but at the moment the area is vastly under-regulated and there is a need for some regulation. Some parts of this bill are probably too permissive. Some parts are probably too tough. All of those sorts of things probably apply but it is at least an attempt to do something and put some stakes in the ground as to what is and is not acceptable in the area of human assisted reproductive technology. 
I am particularly pleased that we have a Supplementary Order Paper from Paul Hutchison in relation to the voluntary register to be maintained by the Registrar-General about the birth and donor details for children who are born from assisted reproductive technology. One of the reasons is—I have said it once and I will say it again—that all children deserve to know their whakapapa. It does not matter which race they are. They should know their ethnicity and where they come from. I am really pleased that we have an acknowledgment of that. 
This register will be voluntary. Many of us would like to see it expanded to become compulsory because of the children’s needs. Having said that I accept that it would be very difficult to get that to work in an area where there is so little donation available and it would possibly stop that small amount of donation. So I am happy to support that. 
Also having looked at clause 4 “Principles” I do have some reservations about the political correctness of the bill. I am very supportive of the provision in paragraph (g) which states: “the different ethical spiritual and cultural perspectives in society should be considered and treated with respect.” I think that is a very sensible provision. However I do not understand why there needs to be a separate provision to say that the needs values and beliefs of Maori should be treated with respect. This implies that Maori are in some way not in fact part of society. I think that that provision is unfortunate and that it brings political correctness in the extreme into what is probably going to be pretty much a multiparty-supported bill. I find that somewhat silly and I think it could well be deleted. 
Having said that I note that the changes that have been made to the bill—and they are numerous—show the degree of thoroughness that the select committee was able to bring to its consideration of the bill. The bill has been around for a while so technology has changed in that time. I do query whether we are likely to have to look at this legislation again in the near future because of further changes to technology. Perhaps the permissiveness of the bill will make that unnecessary but I wonder. 
It is certainly funny that we live in a country where we are very very concerned about human assisted reproductive technology yet we do not really value children and parenthood as much as we should. In fact the very first and best thing we can do in society is be good parents. No matter what we do in this Parliament none of it is of any use at all if nobody is out there being a good parent. None of it is of any use to us past this generation unless we do in fact value children their parents and the people who give up so much to become parents and we very much value what happens to those children after they are born. 
I am happy to go along with the purposes of the bill. I am happy to support the bill and I will be supporting as well the amendments put forward by Paul Hutchison.