Marcroft JennyJENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 361 and SOP 287 in my name. This is the first opportunity I've had to speak to the End of Life Choice Bill so I do appreciate this opportunity and I would like to thank the member in the chair David Seymour for the constructive way he's worked with New Zealand First. The Hon Tracey Martin worked very closely with the member and I just wanted it down in Hansard that we have worked very constructively and very positively. I'd like to also acknowledge all the members in the House. This is an emotive topic. It's a divisive topic and all those contributions certainly have been noted whatever position people have taken on that.So I turn to SOP 361 which will amend SOP 287. SOP 287 relates directly to New Zealand First policy and views that this issue—end of life choice—basically directly affects the fabric of society. Therefore we believe that temporarily empowered politicians which we all are in this Chamber alone should not decide on this bill but we should have the courage to allow the voting public to participate in this conversation. Back in 1992 and 1993 the public decided on our electoral system introducing MMP and we believe that we trusted them then and we can trust them now. The New Zealand First caucus's further support of the bill is contingent on the amendment being voted through. SOP 287 basically will amend clause 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill to make the commencement date of the bill contingent on the outcome of said referendum. If the majority of voters at the referendum vote Yes then the bill will come into force 12 months after the official result of the referendum is declared. However if the majority of voters vote No to the referendum—they do not agree—then the bill will be repealed. There is also an addition in the clause saying that if no referendum is held within five years of the date on which the bill receives the Royal assent then the bill will be repealed. As to the question of the referendum question basically we heard that members in the House actually wanted to know what the question in the referendum would be and we felt it was important that the voting public specifically knew what they were voting for. So we felt it important that the Electoral Commission was given specific guidelines of the question and what it should be that the question needed to relate specifically to the bill and that it shouldn't be broad or general in terms of Do you agree with assisted dying or not?" We felt that it actually had to relate directly to the bill. So the question in SOP 361 is "Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force?" and voters will be given the opportunity to say "Yes I support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force." Or they can say "No I do not support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force." So in terms of my contribution we very much would like to see our referendum voted through—SOP 361 is amending SOP 287. We urge all members of the committee amidst this polarised debate to give real consideration to take this bill to referendum. So just in conclusion SOP 287 will provide for the conducting of a binding referendum to determine whether the End of Life Choice Bill if passed through Parliament may become law in New Zealand and SOP 361 then amends SOP 287 to clarify that the referendum question will be "Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force?" Thank you Mr Chair."