Brown SimeonSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to take a call on the Coroners (Access to Body of Dead Person) Amendment Bill. I think the member opposite the Hon Clare Curran is generally right when she says small things can be huge but when Kieran McAnulty stood up and gave a 10-second speech before that wasn't huge. And I'm pretty sure the people of Wairarapa know that quality is better than what he just delivered there and that's why they voted for Alastair Scott.But back to the bill which National is supporting here tonight which is the Coroners (Access to Body of Dead Person) Amendment Bill which is a small bill which deals with a very important issue in regards to addressing the need for cultural requirements to be taken into account by coroners when deciding whether someone should be able to stay with a dead person who may be requiring an autopsy or going through something else which is being done at that time where there's a question over the death of that person.That is something which happens in a large number of cases where people do pass away and the coroner is required to intervene and undertake a post-mortem. Under section 32 and section 37 of the Coroners Act it already requires the coroner to take into account social attitudes or customs or spiritual beliefs when deciding the criteria for a decision whether to direct a post-mortem and also when deciding whether a post-mortem may be performed early in some cases and that's when a post-mortem may be required to be taking place very quickly. This is putting into law the requirement that when making the decision over whether someone should be able to stay with the body at that time part of that criteria should be the cultural requirements.There's a number of other requirements which have to be taken into account already at the time. That is generally around risk to evidence risk to the security of the body whether there's a requirement for staff to be available risk to visitors and whether suitable rooms and facilities are available. So those are a number of the requirements which the coroner has to already take into account and this essentially adds an additional requirement that they have to take into account cultural aspects when making that decision.I think as a Parliament it's very important for us to recognise the different cultural beliefs and faiths that we have in our community and the different ways that they relate to the body of a dead person and the requirements that they put on the process from when that person dies to when they're either buried or cremated. This is I think something which is not just something which we should see as a small technical change to a law—to put into law something which is already taking place—but it is us as Parliament saying that we are going to recognise the different faiths and the different cultural observances which are required and put into law what coroners generally are already doing which is for coroners to take that into account when making those decisions. And so while this is something which is only a small piece of legislation I think it should be celebrated as recognising our freedom of religion in this country and the freedoms that we enjoy and further embodying that in our legislation as we continue to recognise that in our country.So the National Party supports this bill. It's been outlined where it's come from through the review with the Māori Affairs Committee and why the recommendation was put in place. Without any further ado I commend the bill to the House.