Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Thank you. This is the first time I have spoken in this debate but I have listened with interest to a lot of the speeches. I think Parliament is at its best when it's considering conscience issues and I acknowledge all of those MPs who have spoken from the heart who have shared their personal stories—stories from their whānau—who have spoken about their values and who have demonstrated the essential humanity that we all share. I acknowledge your wisdom your personal insights and the very serious consideration that everyone in this House has given to this bill.I acknowledge also Maryan Street the work that she and others have done in bringing the issue to this House and particularly acknowledge David Seymour for the very altruistic way in which you have conducted these proceedings and the way you have worked with the legal team that has supported you gone through all of the Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) and worked to make the changes to the bill to maximise the number of MPs who can support it. This bill has been given the serious attention that this life and death issue deserves and it makes me proud to be a member of Parliament which has gone into this debate with this level of consideration.Can I also acknowledge Lecretia Seales who came to terms with her terminal illness and her impending death in a very public way by seeking to challenge the current legal prohibition against physician-assisted dying. Can I acknowledge the thousands of people who made submissions who wrote letters who wrote emails who shared their experience and their stories with members of Parliament.This is a serious and complex issue. There are a wide range of opinions informed by values by evidence and by consideration of what has happened in overseas jurisdictions and they are informed by balancing these very key principles of the right to life the respect for human dignity personal autonomy and the protection of more vulnerable members of society.All eight Green MPs are supporting this bill because we have considered it carefully as a party. We have considered it guided by our members and guided by our policy. Green policy is very clear that New Zealanders who have a terminal illness should be able to choose the way their life ends in a supported and open way to have dignity at the end of their life provided there are very clear safeguards around that. The SOPs which David Seymour introduced and which passed in the committee stages and the changes that were made to the bill as a result ensure that those safeguards exist.This year I have watched my father starve himself to death. This bill would not allow him to have a dignified death because it is a very narrow bill. It specifically excludes people by dint of their age. It excludes those who've got a disability of any kind seeking physician-assisted dying. The safeguards in the bill ensure that it is someone who has to be terminally ill that their life is likely to end within six months that they are competent and able to make a decision that they are enduring physical or psychological suffering that cannot be relieved or made tolerable to them that they have made persistent requests for help to die and that they are making an informed decision. It cannot be solely because of a disability.That safeguard was really important to the Green Party because we recognise that people with a disability often don't have the equitable access to services that those who are able-bodied have and we have to do more to invest in those services and to reduce that stigma.Our bill of rights doesn't currently specifically recognise the human rights principle of dignity and of personal autonomy but that concept of dignity is recognised elsewhere in our law and I think that is what this bill tonight is all about. The court in the Seales case said and I quote The complex legal philosophical moral and clinical issues raised by Ms Seales' [case could] only be addressed by Parliament passing legislation to amend the effect of the Crimes Act." All eight Green MPs will be voting for that to happen tonight."