King Annette: Appointments — Ombudsman and Chief Ombudsman Deputy Controller and Auditor-General Independent Police Conduct Authority Abortion Supervisory CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Appointments — Ombudsman and Chief Ombudsman Deputy Controller and Auditor-General Independent Police Conduct Authority Abortion Supervisory Committee[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6759. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): I stand for the Labour Opposition to support the appointment of Dame Linda Holloway and Dr Habib and the new appointment of Carolyn McIlraith—three very good appointments. The two reappointments and Carolyn McIlraith who works here at Capital and Coast District Health Board as a very very experienced counsellor make up I think a very strong group of three for what is a pretty difficult job to undertake.The Abortion Supervisory Committee is one that operates under the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act and its function is to keep under review all the provision of New Zealand’s abortion laws and operations and the effect of those provisions. That also includes the licensing of institutions to perform abortions. So it is an area where there are often very strong views and they are often very strongly presented and so those who take on this job are people—and have been women—over the years who have been able to bridge the gap between those views to a great extent.Dame Linda Holloway is very well-known to me from the time before I was a Minister of Health but particularly during my time as Minister of Health. She has been a long-time advocate for women. She has been a long-time advocate for contraception for women access to contraception and access to legal abortion in New Zealand. In fact she was the person who introduced RU486 to New Zealand—a medical abortion as opposed to a surgical abortion—and she advocated for many years for another safe way for legal abortion.Dr Habib is a GP as you have heard from the Minister. The Act does require that there be two medical practitioners and so that requirement has been fulfilled and as I said Miss Carolyn McIlraith is a counsellor so I think they are three good very appointments. I think they can take some credit and strength from the latest statistics where you look and see that in December 2014 New Zealand had the lowest number of abortions since 1994. In fact in its report—the latest report to this House—the committee said that it believes that one of the reasons for that is because of the funding of long-acting subcutaneous implant contraception from August 2010. It has seen an overall decline in abortion rates and notes a dramatic drop in abortion rates for 15 to 19-year-olds and believes that this could be partially attributed to the introduction of this form of long-term contraception. The committee believes that this downward trend for this age cohort will continue. I think it is that sort of data and information provided by this committee that is really important in order to be able to see what is happening in the area of abortion.The committee does however say in its recent report that it continues to be very worried about harassment—harassment of women—where you must recognise the right to freedom of expression for people who have strong views on abortion and also the right of women to choose. It is concerned about verbal abuse distribution of offensive material to people entering hospital—and people go into hospital for many reasons. Women could be there for dozens of reasons. They ought not to be subjected to coercion or humiliation and I absolutely support the committee on that.The committee also points out that we now have better access to services in the provincial areas of New Zealand and that has been an issue in some parts of New Zealand in the past where there was not local access. This meant that women were required to travel long distances to obtain a legal abortion.So we do support the appointment of these three women to the committee and wish them well in their work continuing their strong advocacy on behalf of those who seek counselling advice and legal abortion in New Zealand.