SpeechTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) (remote): Thank you Mr Speaker. Can I acknowledge the family actually who will no doubt be listening this afternoon and will bring for them closure on what's been a harrowing and emotional rollercoaster of a journey one where science as the previous speaker has gone and alluded to has gotten ahead of our wider area of law which deals with the issue of surrogacy. Science has indeed taken off and there is a lot more work to do in the area of surrogacy to make it fit for purpose so that we have modern laws for our increasingly modern families that choose to use surrogacy arrangements to be able to start their families. When I gave my submission to the committee I wanted to focus on that and I think it's really important that we don't lose sight of that.This is about growing families. This bill is about growing a family and giving it the strongest foundation that we can possibly give it in the eyes of the law to make sure that they are able to move forward into this world albeit without Paige's mum Katherine but for the rest of their family to know that baby Paige has a mum and has a dad and is part of a village actually—a village of people—that love and support her.For many people they may think that just a name on a birth certificate is a little thing but actually when it comes to identity as my colleague Louisa Wall has mentioned it's everything because what it does is it connects you. Just this week I put a post up on my Facebook page having taken a trip down to Wellington and spent the weekend reconnecting with my Te Ātiawa side down there. I put a post up talking about how whakapapa is everything. Family connection is everything and as we talk about the cost of living actually let's just spare a thought about the best things in life which are free and those things are the fact that we do have relations. We do have grave sites that we can visit to go and connect to those people. We do have reminders in our family via cousins and aunties and uncles and people that wrap around us at times when we need them.Connection is everything and I hope that today while we do this we really do amplify the voices—the many voices—that have come to Parliament seeking justice in the area of surrogacy such as Kyle and Katherine Josh and Renee baby Paige; such as Christian Newman who fronted up to Parliament asking for wider changes around speeding up the process so that we can get families started on their journey be it surrogacy or be it through adoption. There is a lot more work to do on this and I'm glad that the Law Commission are taking that opportunity too. We should be expecting their wider deeper dive into the area of surrogacy. Their report is expected to be back with us really soon—next month in fact. So I'm looking forward to seeing that and to seeing issues like this dealt with through their report.They're also looking into wider things like international surrogacy and where things should land on that and I'm hoping that my little member's bill—I'm hoping that it actually gets after it's had its first reading whenever that happens to be swallowed up by a lot of the wider reforms that are going on in this area. But the idea of a surrogacy order is really important to this conversation because in my bill I talk about a surrogacy order something where well in advance of a couple deciding to enter into a surrogacy arrangement if there is a court order where they're able to go through the process with the surrogate as well and make sure that they have nutted out all of those terms and conditions formally through the court things like who goes on the birth certificate—those things can be dealt with in advance. Should a person die in that process then actually the surrogacy order should have dealt with this. Unfortunately the bill's not passed so we're here putting through this private bill.I want to thank again Louisa Wall my colleague for doing this. Michael Woodhouse my other colleague from the other side of the House is incredibly right: she has a way of working this political system from the inside to achieve change for people like Kyle people like Katherine and for people like Paige. Can I finish my contribution just by acknowledging Josh who has been the person who has called up the MPs whether it's Todd Muller or Simon Bridges or Louisa Wall or myself. He's the one that's been doing the hard yards calling everybody up and making sure that this was an issue. I got a phone call about this from Paddy Gower because actually this had hit the media this story and rightfully so.I also had a phone call from the Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft. He was really concerned about this too and he was looking for avenues to be able to support. So that was all because of you Josh. If you're listening this is all because of you and you're a top friend to Kyle and a top uncle to baby Paige as well. When this passes today I hope that you are able to breathe that sigh of relief that you've been looking for for quite some time. But I'm going to be standing here ushering this through and when we finally get wider reforms in the surrogacy area I'll be here ushering that through as well because as the former speaker said there are some anomalies in the law that currently exist that shouldn't be there: the fact that a biological parent should have to stand in a court of law and adopt their own child shouldn't happen. We should be able think of better ways to be able to go through a surrogacy arrangement and make sure that everybody leaves with their mana intact. At the moment that's not currently the case.So through this private member's bill if we can get some instant change then that should be encouraged. I'm heartened that this has got support from all around the House and I do look forward to the first reading of my bill when that time comes but hopefully also wider reform in this area too. So with that said I commend this bill to the House.