Robertson GrantHon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Mr Speaker thank you very much for giving me the call. I want to acknowledge at the outset that this is not an easy debate for anybody. It is a difficult debate and I have seen respect shown across the House for different views. I think that has been an important part of how this debate has continued and I want to thank all members for doing it. This is not easy. New Zealanders don't like talking about death but it is important that we do. Death is not just a physical event; it is also a social event. It is something that as a country we must face up to. It is not easy to do difficult things but unless we do difficult things we will never do important things and that is what this debate is about. I want to thank and congratulate the mover of the bill David Seymour for the work that he has done in getting us to this stage. Every single person in this House either in debating here or in other forums has talked about the friends and the relatives who mean something to them when this debate arises. For me that person is Helen Kelly. I discussed this issue with Helen before her death several times and I want to quote her now. She said I could let myself die now. I could refuse treatment … lawfully and die rather quickly. Instead I am trying to live which is actually what most terminally ill people want—we don't actually want to die—but if we have to then we want to do it peacefully and some of us may want tools to help [us] when it is not going to happen naturally." In Helen's very clear and direct way she was sending the clear message that I support. This is not easy. This may not be what many of us would want for even ourselves but it is what we should allow for those who do want it. For me this debate is actually not so much about choice and I know that for many members that is the issue that drives them to support this bill. The reason that I support this piece of legislation is about two other values: those of dignity and those of compassion. Another person who I have had long conversations with about this legislation and this issue was the Very Rev. John Murray—now deceased—from the Kāpiti coast who spent many years advocating for voluntary euthanasia as a Christian. He said to me often that as a Christian the issues were not about choice; the issues were about compassion and about dignity ensuring that at the end of life in a Christian way we show the same principles of compassion that we would show during life for someone. Now I respect that fact that that is not the view of every person who identifies as a Christian but it is the view that John Murray transmitted to me several times over the years. Palliative care is important. Palliative care remains a critical part of making sure that people at the end their lives are supported. We should support palliative care and we do. It's important and it's vital but it's not enough. We do have to provide people with—yes—choice but also with dignity and compassion. We also have to trust this House that through the process we have improved this bill. We have significantly strengthened the safeguards. We have made sure that this is a bill that will be enduring and provide a law that all New Zealanders can have confidence in. We will pass this bill today I believe and when we do we will put the choice about what happens into the hands of New Zealanders in a referendum. That is not my preference. That is not how I would like this issue to have been resolved by this House. I believe that as a House we have it within our wherewithal to make this decision. But for me it is more important that we finally make progress on this issue. This House has been here a couple of times before. It's now time for us to pass this law to give New Zealanders that chance to vote on it at a referendum and to have a referendum that is one that is conducted in a way where we have real information and where we make sure that the respect that has been shown in this House up to now is continued for New Zealanders but fundamentally for people like Helen Kelly and John Murray in my life and for all those similar people in the lives of others here that we finally offer dignity and compassion in death as we would in life. I support the bill."