Bidois DanDAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): Mr Speaker thank you very much and it's a privilege to speak in the third and final reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. I'd like to start out by acknowledging all the members in the House today for the way in which you've conducted yourselves over the last couple of years in a very professional respectful and well-thought-out manner.I'd also like to acknowledge everybody who's reached out throughout New Zealand to communicate with their MPs and in particular to those in the great electorate of Northcote for your feedback; it's been really worth having that. In particular I acknowledge Mary Panko from my own electorate. Mary we do differ on this issue but I would like to say that I have strong faith in you and I'm proud to call you a member of the Northcote electorate. So thank you for the work that you do. I would also like to acknowledge the sponsor of the bill David Seymour for his commitment to helping people like Lecretia Seales who want to end their life in a dignified and compassionate way.This is a divisive topic in particular in my community. My community is considered much more representative of the New Zealand community in terms of the relative demographics and weight. I can say that my community is split on this topic. Surveys that I've done and public meetings that I've done have roughly come out fifty-fifty give or take a few percentage points on this topic. So the people in my community are split but what the people that want this bill passed have said to me loud and clear is that they want tight controls to protect the most vulnerable citizens in our society. I do not have confidence that this bill that we're about to vote on today has the controls to protect our most vulnerable. Let me explain what exactly I mean by that.So let's start off with the eligibility criteria. They include already those that are terminally ill but they also include those who suffer from a mental illness and depression. If we look at diagnosis and prognosis of course we heard in the select committee process that doctors get it wrong all the time; it is based on probability not by certainty. Next the competency test: it's not consistent throughout. There's no need for a person to be mentally competent when the lethal dose is administered. Finally on the eligibility criteria this definition of unbearable suffering is still vague to me and it could include suffering from poverty loneliness spousal death or any such wider definition.Now to the process itself: there is no cooling-off period like what was recommended in other countries; 45 hours from the time that you sign to the time that it is administered. I would have preferred something more along the line of what was in Oregon: 15 days; or Victoria: nine days; or in fact Canada: going on 10 days. There is no mechanism where this is a last resort. There's no mechanism that says you must go down the palliative care route first and that is another flaw in the process. Finally in the process anybody can sign the proxy form even those who stand to benefit from the death of the person itself.So because of this I do not have confidence in the bill that's going forward. I do not have confidence that putting this to the people of New Zealand is in the best interests of this country and therefore I cannot support the End of Life Choice Bill. I do not believe in abdicating our responsibilities as members of Parliament. This is a representative democracy. The people of Northcote voted me here to represent them and their views and I have tried my best to do that on this topic and especially on nuanced topics like this the End of Life Choice Bill where it is very complex and I myself have changed my position in the last two years on this topic having initially come out in favour of it and now being opposed to the bill. I am opposed to the third reading of this bill. I do not think that it is in the best interests for New Zealand at this time given the state of the bill and the lack of protections that it has for our most vulnerable. So I will be opposed to this bill in the third and final reading. Thank you.