Coffey Tamati; Rurawhe AdrianTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Lived experience is everything. And as I stand here having listened to all of the speeches from around the House I do get emotional because this is a journey that I've been on for quite some time. When I think about our experience I think about our surrogate that helped us get to this place I think about her family that said Are you bonkers?" when she said to them that she was going to be doing it. But actually just sitting here my colleagues right down in front of me both started talking about their mokopuna. They started pulling out the little phones because that's what this bill does it actually encourages people to think about children think about their grandchildren their mokopuna their moko tuarua. This is a bill that will help Kiwi families to grow and that's why it's so special. And can I thank every party in this House for their support on what isn't a gay issue as my colleague said; this is a New Zealand issue this is a family issue this is a whānau issue. This is about making mokopuna decisions—that's what we say back home.I want to talk quickly about the New Zealand Law Commission mahi that they have done. I understand that that is sitting with the Minister and it will be made public very soon. I look forward to looking through that report like many members of this House to see exactly what they've managed to do remembering that this bill was dreamt up by both Louisa Wall MP and myself and we decided at the time that we'd try and peel off a few things that we could contain inside a member's bill knowing that there was a lot more work that needed to be done. And I want to thank the Law Commission for the work that they've done—their deep dive—I look forward to reading that report.This bill is going off to the Health Committee and there have been a few questions raised as to whether or not that was the appropriate committee. We chose to send it to the Health Committee because this is a health issue. I wanted to take it away from previous conversations where in this House issues such as abortion talking about women's bodies have been viewed historically by this House as a justice issue as a law and order issue and I don't believe that that's the right place for it. I believe that this is a health issue this is a women's issue and we need to talk about it with the right framework so therefore it's going to the Health Committee. I believe it's the right place to go.I want to thank Christian Newman for putting the pressure on way back in 2019 in October when he brought the petition 32000 people signed it. And last night I was on the phone to him saying "We're going to get there." And he was saying "Tāmati it's 2022. How long does it take in that place?" And I said "It takes a little bit of time for some things to make it through the process." but we are here right now. I want to thank the New Zealand Labour Party. It is my party and in 2020 it was put into the manifesto: a commitment to surrogacy. And I want to thank Andrew Little in his role as the Minister of Justice in the last Parliament where in his role he made sure that the Law Commission did do their report. It's an issue that I've felt passionate about and I'm glad that our party have been there to help champion it along the way.I want to acknowledge the science that's involved is surrogacy and shout-out to all of our scientists out there who make this happen. Right now there are 13 embryos sitting in a freezer in Hamilton somewhere that belong to me and my partner Tim. And the wonder of science and the miracle of science and the advance of science is one of the reasons that we're here right now—as my colleague said before—trying to catch up with the law. And thankfully this law is going to be able to do that. So thank you to our scientists actually.A biological parent should never have to adopt their own child—I'll say it again: a biological parent should never have to adopt their own child. And when we had to go through that that was painful because we were standing in a court of New Zealand law knowing that this was the system and that as the biological father we were standing there having to go through this insane archaic process where we had to adopt our own biological child. So this bill is for all of the beautiful children that have been born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement this bill is for all of these surrogates that have thanklessly but beautifully given over themselves to be able to help other families grow but most of all this bill is an acknowledgment of all of those families out there that have been able to grow because of surrogacy arrangement. Modern laws for modern families is what we're trying to achieve here. I look forward to championing this through the select committee process. It's going to be a journey and I'm up for it. I commend it to the House.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is That the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill be considered by the Health Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Health Committee.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members it's come time for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7 p.m.Sitting suspended from 5.56 p.m. to 7 p.m."