Simpson Scott: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17091. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel):In commencing my contribution to this third reading debate on the Sullivan Birth Registration Bill I want to acknowledge the chairmanship of the Government Administration Committee by the Hon Ruth Dyson and her contribution to this debate just immediately prior to mine. I think the committee this term has had to consider some incredibly weighty issues and it has done so with great patience with clarity and with dignity. Yet sometimes the committee comes to relatively small matters which it has also treated with dignity and grace and I think that is something that speaks volumes about the power and might and importance of our little democracy that we have here.I do not want to go through the details of this bill. Others have spoken at some considerable length about the particular uniqueness of the situation that this bill confronts and seeks to address. But it is I think an absolute irony that the situation that we are addressing and correcting and putting right here tonight would not in fact have arisen if Louisa Wall’s other spectacular piece of legislation had come into law earlier. For me that is something of an irony and something of I guess a justification if one was ever needed that this is the right and proper thing to be doing tonight.I have mentioned in a previous contribution on this bill that in a previous life—in fact immediately prior to coming into Parliament—I had the great pleasure and honour of being the chief executive officer of a wonderful children’s charity called Make-A-Wish. Make-A-Wish is a terrific organisation. It literally grants wishes to sick children and young people who have life-threatening medical conditions. In my role for nearly 3 years as chief executive officer of that great organisation I was literally and figuratively a professional wish-granter. I made mention in my maiden speech that one of the challenges I felt would confront me in going from a professional wish-granter to becoming a parliamentarian was how I could transition those job skills into this place. Tonight I have to say that I have something of a sense of achieving that small goal of granting a wish and in doing so I want to just commend to the House not only the bill but also the power of a wish. It is something that I do not think we as adults as parliamentarians as MPs should ever underestimate in any respect or way.We are fortunate to live in a small precious intimate little democracy. Usually the work of this House and members of this House is occupied on focusing on the many. Occasionally we focus on the few and it is fully appropriate that we do. Almost never do we focus on a single person—on a single individual citizen. So I think it is an absolute hallmark of this place and our democracy and our Parliament that we in fact can come here tonight to do just that—to focus on an individual citizen who has an injustice that needs to be put right.This is I think an historic occasion for our House. It is an occasion where we can together accept that as I came across many times in my time at Make-A-Wish life sometimes is not fair and that from time to time no matter what the circumstance bad stuff sometimes happens and bad stuff sometimes happens in a very unfair way. But that does not mean that sometimes great things cannot occur from small deeds and this I think is an absolute classic example of how small deeds can have great power and great influence.So in summing up my contribution in this third reading debate I do just want to congratulate the House on its resolve to achieve what I think would not occur in many other democracies. I think that we can as parliamentarians and indeed as citizens of New Zealand be proud of what we are doing tonight. I commend the bill to the House.