Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Madam Chair. Tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak specifically to Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 260 in the name of the Hon Dr Nick Smith and I do so within the context of a definition of informed consent"—that is capacity or ability to make the decision. The medical provider must disclose information on the treatment or in this case the options for end of life choice comprehension of the relevant information and voluntarily grant consent without coercion or duress. I actually think the way the bill is worded in clause 8 is to ensure there is no coercion or duress and many people have spoken tonight about elder abuse in New Zealand so let's talk about elder abuse. I've just looked at the SuperSeniors website and these are the facts: 2200 reported cases. We're estimating that actually it's probably more 8800—79 percent psychological 54 percent financial 19 percent physical 17 percent neglect 1 percent sexual abuse and therein begs the question: who is perpetrating this abuse on our elders? It is 76 percent family members 16 percent partner 44 percent child or child's partner 20 percent friend or neighbour. The way that clause 8 is worded—and it's interesting because there's a distinction between "ensure" and obviously "encourage" and the medical practitioner in most of them has to "ensure". They have to ensure the person understands their options for end of life choice. They have to ensure that the person knows that they can decide at any time before the administration not to receive it. They have to ensure that they are not obliged to discuss their wish with anyone and they have to ensure that the person has had the opportunity to discuss their wish with those whom they choose.Therein lies the distinction between what Dr Smith is actually encouraging. He wants to ensure that people have to talk to their partner parents or children. The actual wording in the SOP from David Seymour says "encourage" and by definition "encourage" means to give support to give confidence or hope to to persuade by giving support and advice. So actually everything we've talked about tonight about the coercion the duress elder abuse all that type of thing—the proposition in Dr Smith's SOP is that we would encourage that elder abuse. I have to say someone who is facing an end of life choice decision will talk to the people that they trust. They will talk to the people that they know love them and support them and will support them through this incredible decision.The average age or the median age of death in Oregon is 72 years. So the context of elder abuse is incredibly important and so I want to acknowledge everything that people have said tonight. But the difference between "ensure" and "encourage" is huge—absolutely. And so under Dr Smith's proposition someone who wanted to choose end of life choice may have to as espoused in the statistics consult with family members who have abused them. If that's the intention of Dr Smith's SOP it's actually incredibly—everything that everyone's said tonight actually reinforces why it should be "encourage" not "ensure" because what you're ensuring is that family members who abuse their elderly family members are going to be involved in a decision that that person has obviously chosen for them not to be involved in and I think everybody in the Chamber tonight who has talked about elder abuse actually has to think about the logistics of what Dr Smith's SOP is actually saying.The other context—with my 39 seconds just in case I don't have another opportunity to speak—was actually also against SOP 302 Chris Penk's because at the heart of it what we're talking about are people who have consented previously. This provides a medical practitioner—a medical practitioner who thinks that the person who may have consented earlier actually under this proposition has to go through an independent panel of practitioners to determine whether pressure was present. That's all about informed consent that we've talked about earlier and that's just another layer of bureaucracy that actually is just a barrier."