McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand in this third and final reading of the Coroners Amendment Bill again in support of this bill going through. At the beginning of the second reading I acknowledged the new Minister for Courts the Hon Rino Tirikatene and I'd like to in this third reading acknowledge the former Minister for Courts the Hon Aupito William Sio because he did quite a bit of work work that has been needed for a very long time. So I'd like to start off by acknowledging his efforts in this space that got this bill under way.We're going to have not only additional coroners—the two—but now associate coroners to help take the workload. I did once upon a time in my youth—it was many many years ago but my very first full-time job ever after leaving school was working in a law firm called East Brewster in Rotorua. It was the late Paul East's father who had established that business with Roger Brewster and Roger Brewster was the coroner in Rotorua. As a young 17- 18- 19-year-old I was under his guidance and was his secretary pulling together a lot of the coronial work. Some of it was really quite disturbing. It was so disturbing that when I turned 20 I used to wonder why I'd go home and cry at night and I realised it was the type of work that I was doing. I can only imagine what some of those families were feeling. What I felt at the time was the pressure of so many different cases. But to now think back that at least we got through those cases in a reasonable time and to know that there are families out there that have been waiting so many years it must be absolutely devastating for them. So to be able to put this bill through to help them get through their personal situations can only be good—good for the families good for the justice system and good for the service that we try to offer those families as well. By supporting this bill we are assisting in reducing the amount of time that those families have to wait and that means that they can move on. By making changes we also expect that there will be not such long delays in being able to have families close off certain things while they're going through the coronial process and that's where I spoke earlier of the certificates of interim findings and how important it is. We've heard how families have asked coroners to give them a certificate but the coroner's been away the coroner has moved somewhere else for a couple of months or the coroner will come back to them and just simply doesn't have time. The new clauses that we've put into this bill means that the Chief Coroner can appoint another coroner to give that certificate of interim finding for those families while the coroner that's been assigned the case is busy doing something else. Again I'm going to reflect on a personal experience here. It wasn't violent but my stepfather passed away suddenly in a marae kitchen and that meant that he had to go through the coronial process. My mother as you can understandably accept was very very upset about what had happened and at having to go through the process but at the same time she was getting letters from IRD demanding that he was overdue for payments for child support. My mother kept trying to contact the IRD to tell them that he had passed but because she couldn't produce a death certificate they kept sending these letters over and over again. It was very distressing for my mother. She eventually replied sending them to the plot that he was buried in but we had to effectively wait to be able to get these interim findings to be able to put that at rest and I again reflect that that was only a short period of time compared to what some families are waiting for now. These certificates are essential to help families close bank accounts to start insurance processes and potentially to even stop agencies like the IRD from courses of action because there was no proof that could be provided that a person is deceased. There is assurance now that the associate coroners will have the same immunities as coroners while at the same time they will also have the same responsibilities as a coroner and be answerable in the same way. We've amended a clause that allowed a coroner to record some deaths that eventually show a person's passing was from natural causes. It is not to be recorded as an unascertained natural cause because that's like an oxymoron in itself but rather presumed natural causes without investigation. At this time I reiterate to submitters that where further investigations are required they will happen and that this clause is only to be used where the evidence available already points to a natural death.I'd like to take the opportunity once again to thank my Justice Committee colleagues the officials who walked us really well through the complexities of this bill and the 2500 submitters who took the time to write in to us with their views wanting to be heard. We have heard them. May those that are sitting within the system have speed so that they can go through and finish off the passing of their families and move on themselves. ACT commends this bill to the House.