Hipango HareteHARETE HIPANGO (National—Whanganui): Thank you. I rise for the second time this week. The bill was before the committee of the whole House earlier in the week and I spoke to some of the detail around that. Clause 4 under the amendment bill is specifically dealing with an amendment to section 26 of the Coroners Act 2006 and that is to seek an insertion after section 26(2)(e) by way of new paragraph (ea). I would just like to read that out to the House because the coroner is tasked in the event of a sudden or unexplained death or death in special circumstances to determine whether or not a post-mortem or autopsy ought to occur. So this amendment is seeking to insert as one of eight interests or matters to be considered—mandatorily now with this amendment should it be passed into law and it's expected that it will; it has full House support—that the coroner factor in amongst those other eight considerations the ethnic origins social attitudes or customs or spiritual beliefs of the person who is or of a person who is suspected to be …" and this means an unidentifiable dead person or deceased person which is often associated with either a tragedy by way of an accident or some criminal event that may have occurred; so "of a person who is suspected to be the dead person or of an immediate family member of that person that customarily required viewing touching or remaining with or near the body". For us in our Māori cultural reference that is our tūpāpaku.Having worked as a lawyer for a number of years and also as part of that responsibility engaging with the police with coroners appearing in the coronial court as well—and medical practitioners—this has created a level of angst. That angst has often been associated with the time or the era of having practised. I reference that because I have recollection of dealing with the coroner some 20 years ago on behalf of whānau and the difficulty for whānau just to have access to the body the tūpāpaku. That was very much premised on relationships of the day. This amendment will require that the coroner must factor this in amongst other considerations to permit or allow either the viewing the access to or the remaining with the tūpāpaku.This is a short address to the House but I do reflect that on the first reading of this bill I referenced speaking to a colleague of mine who is the deputy coroner Brandt Shortland and he harkened me to be mindful that coroners have practice notes. In this day and age the practice notes—although there's a discretionary consideration as there had been under the Coroner's Act this will make it mandatory. The coroner's practice notes very much remind coroners of their duty in the cultural landscape of Aotearoa as it is today to bear in mind the importance of cultural considerations around decisions being made whether to have access to touch or view the body. That was balanced up against other factors such as contamination of evidence if that was critical or crucial to the inquiry or the outcome and finding of the cause of death.In closing I do commend to the House this amendment by way of this bill to be passed into law. There's been mention made by other speakers in the House that it factors in tikanga Māori—yes it does but it also factors in other cultural requirements and needs and belief values and systems.As a matter of interest we live in an ever more diverse landscape in society here in Aotearoa. In the days when I was working as a lawyer for Child Youth and Family there was a Muslim social worker. He died suddenly and unexpectedly and as is the custom of their people and their beliefs he was required to be buried within 24 hours. Fortunately there was no suspicious death aspect to that and the coroner made a decision not to require an autopsy. But this amendment under this bill once passed into law will require those considerations to be factored in. I commend this to the House. Kia ora."