SpeechDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): I rise on behalf of the Green Party to support the Therapeutic Products Bill. We note that this bill is intended to replace the current Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 to provide for that comprehensive risk-proportionate regulation of therapeutic products. As my colleagues have outlined no doubt this covers medicines made from biological components gene therapies and advanced cell and tissue therapies; medical devices that are software production systems whole organs and tissue grafts; active pharmaceutical ingredients; and natural health products that are traditional and herbal medicines and vitamin and mineral supplements—they're used by New Zealanders in every part of their life.It'll be no surprise that I am a user of such products—shout-out to places like Commonsense Organics that stock quality products. I think this bill is quite important so that anybody who goes into any of these places knows that what they're buying is quality and that what is on the label and the effects that they are meant to have will be exactly what will happen. So we do hope with this bill that it will improve the health of all New Zealanders. Just making sure that the safety the quality and the efficacy or performance of those devices and medicines—everything is as it should be.It's been a long time coming this bill—over a decade of policy work. So shout-out to all of the officials who have worked over a long period of time to get this—and particularly the consultations that were held a few years ago. We know that there are significant gaps in coverage and this will I think go a long way to overhauling these other pieces of law which do not reflect the world we live in today.Now the Green Party considers that decisions made relating to health should be made on the best evidence we have available and this bill enables us to do that to provide that framework so people can make the best decisions for them for their personal health or that of their whānau. It looks like this will be a comprehensive and transparent regulatory regime and we do note that this bill is considerably smaller and tighter than the original draft that went out for consultation a few years ago.Now most of the correspondence that I have received about this bill has been in the area of rongoā that's holistic healing practices based on tikanga and mātauranga Māori. So that's our traditional ancient knowledges based in our connection with the whenua with the environment and flora and fauna of Aotearoa.Now the Greens acknowledge the value of rongoā and affirm that iwi and hapū have intellectual property over that. So we know that there's no specific reference to rongoā in this bill—the regulation of natural health products will impact on it and it will also capture ingredients which are used in rongoā such as rākau plant-based remedies.Now Te Aka Whai Ora our Māori Health Authority as part of the consultation identified that they supported stronger Te Tiriti clauses in this bill including references to the articles and the specific exclusion of rongoā in this bill. Te Puni Kōkiri when they were consulted on this supported that approach just because there's a long history of the Crown seeking to control and limit Māori culture including mātauranga Māori that informs our rongoā practices.So this was particularly disrupted by the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 which criminalised tohunga practices and it's just one of the many ways the Crown behaved in such a way that fuelled the distrust of Māori and further exacerbated the loss of mātauranga Māori. So we know that the Government will take some care in considering how rongoā is considered within and in relation to this bill and I understand there's going to be further work and further consultation on this so that we can all support the sustainability of rongoā going forward.The concerns though that were raised by rongoā practitioners about this bill were about limiting the tino rangatiratanga of tangata whenua over their taonga possibly leading to a Treaty breach but feeling that their voices hadn't been heard in this discussion and just worrying about the impact of the framing of this legislation and Crown enforcement on tikanga Māori.As I conclude I want to do a shout-out to the Aotearoa Rongoā Māori Collective Charitable Trust. They've set up a petition which is on the Parliament website to prevent rongoā Māori being monitored under this bill. It's been signed so far by over 4700 people and the purpose of this petition is and I quote that the Crown keep its promise to tangata whenua to exercise tino rangatiratanga over their taonga as per Te Tiriti o Waitangi Article 2 … After the lifting of the Tohunga Suppression Act … we believe Maaori have exercised absolute sovereignty over traditional forms of iwi hapu and whanau healing knowledge spiritual rituals and ethical practices. In our view the proposed therapeutic products regulatory regime denigrates Rongoaa Maaori."Now they have spoken we look forward to hearing from the wider community and the experts in this area right across all of the issues that are being addressed by this bill and just how this bill is going to affect them. So today we support this bill this bill to select committee. I'm one of the members of the Health Committee where I assume it will come and I look forward to helping shepherd this bill through the House. Kia ora."