Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'm very pleased to speak at the second reading of this bill and I want to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee under the 51st Parliament for initiating the inquiry which has led us to this legislative amendment which we are speaking to this evening.I do want to acknowledge Tutehounuku Korako the chair of that committee and all the members that took part in that inquiry which was instigated at the suggestion of Metiria Turei. There was one other member I believe of that committee who's no longer in this House—the Hon Chester Borrows—who made a valuable input into that inquiry with his vast experience as a police officer. I know that he took great interest and contributed greatly to the inquiry.I think this bill is a very good example of how effective committees can be in initiating inquiries and in looking for recommendations—whether it might be Government practices or whether legislative change might be required. While it's noted that practically all but one of the recommendations of that committee were accepted by the Government only one did require legislative amendment and I'm pleased that we are implementing that change through this bill. The amendment that we're making to section 26 set out in clause 4 as has been canvassed quite comprehensively is to ensure that when exercising discretion the coroner—whether a family member or someone close to the deceased is able to have access to be with the body. Section 26 now makes it explicit so it's providing an express provision within that section of the matters which the coroner must take into account. So I commend the work of this Parliament in ensuring that that recommendation which came through the parliamentary inquiry was accepted by the Government and has now been implemented into the legislation through this bill. Now even though there has been a practice note which the Chief Coroner did issue which effectively said that that is the practice nevertheless we are going a step further as a Parliament to ensure that that duty is expressly followed by the coroner by putting it in section 26 subsection—I've lost the number there but it's in section 26 which we are amending here this evening. So this is a very good example of an effective inquiry process and a very positive outcome to come from the inquiry. I commend all of those that have been involved. As the current chair of the Māori Affairs Committee there wasn't really much for us to do. There were only a few—eight—submissions that we received. A lot of the submissions that we received were outside the scope of the actual bill in question. Nevertheless they were very helpful and practical suggestions of matters which I believe the coroner's office are taking into account in terms of the practical considerations. But in terms of the bill at hand I do support the work that's been done.I just want to read it one more time—because I think one particular aspect I do support is the use of the example that we have put in the subsection. So reading new section 26(2)(ea) inserted by clause 4 the end of it says (for example the customary requirement that immediate family members be able to view touch or remain with or near the body according to tikanga Māori)". That's just one example that we're using but of course the wording of the actual paragraph in itself is very broad to take into account all cultures ethnic origins social attitudes or customs and spiritual beliefs of the person or persons. So it is very broad. It's intended to be broad to cover all of the many cultures that are impacted by death. But we've very elegantly put a very helpful example in there by using tikanga Māori. So with that I commend the work by all involved and I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a second time."