Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to take a call on the Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill. I thank the member for bringing it to the House but more importantly I thank the work of the Health Committee for knocking it into shape and giving it clarity for our debate tonight.Of course New Zealand has a low rate of live organ donations by international standards and we want to improve that. I want to refer particularly to Part 1 Preliminary provisions clause 3 where we talk about the purpose of this bill to remove a financial deterrent to the donation of organs by live donors."I want to just reference the written submission provided to the select committee by the New Zealand Nurses' Organisation. I see they didn't appear so I am going to highlight some very important points that they made in their written submission. Concerns they raised were that organ transplants are a health matter—and I know that that has been picked up in this bill; and the financial burden on the donors—and I am glad to hear from the member that we are talking about 100 percent compensation for those who are considering donating. The third point and the bulk of my contribution is the point around disparity for Māori and Pacific people. It is interesting to note also in the organisation's written submission where it talks about the current number of deceased organ donations being 67 per year in New Zealand and in terms of live organ donors it is 72 per year. If we look at those on the waiting list it is acknowledged that there are about 550 people on the current waiting list.But as I said there is a particular community out there in New Zealand Māori and Pacific people who face the greatest burden of what is called end-stage renal failure ESRF yet they are least likely to receive a kidney transplant. This is due partly to the transplantation body mass index (BMI) criteria which does not take into consideration Māori and Pasifika body shapes and sizes. Questions should be asked whether the BMI threshold creates an unfair disadvantage for populations that are naturally bigger. The nurses also give some helpful hints in terms of not just supporting the bill—which they clearly do—but I want to just bring to the House their comment around recommending further research to be undertaken to capture the diversity of Māori and Pacific views on donations.Perhaps the member Chris Bishop when he does if he wants to get on his feet and answer the question—going back to how I started with Part 1 Preliminary provisions clause 3 where we say that we are addressing a financial deterrent—I want to ask the member whether he considered any other barriers that this bill should be addressing. I acknowledge to the honourable member that the financial barrier is a credible one but I ask whether he contemplated any other barriers as raised and identified in the nurses' submission.My further point to the member is the recommendation—again from the Nurses' Association—around the further research on and I guess the education required for many Māori and Pacific potential donors; whether he has thought about how he would socialise that with the Government around the real need of addressing the disparity between Māori and Pacific renal failure and some of the requirements that the nurses have identified from the many years that they have worked with Māori and Pacific patients to ensure that we can maximise the potential that this bill is trying to address by increasing live donors across the spectrum throughout New Zealand.All I want to do in the time that I have been given is to impress upon you given that you are a Hutt South - based person in Wainuiōmata where you have got lots of constituents there who are facing several health considerations—I implore the member to consider that as he progresses this bill through. Kia ora tātou."