Kuriger Barbara: Health (Protection) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKuriger Barbara: Health (Protection) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 27 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4090. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): It is a pleasure to be here tonight taking a call on the Health (Protection) Amendment Bill. It is particularly pleasing because this is the first bill that I have actually followed from the beginning as a new member of Parliament and I am following its way through the process. So it is always going to be particularly relevant to me.It is clear that some parts of the legislation from over 50 years ago need updating in order to improve it for modern times. If I think back to 50 years ago a lot of infectious diseases and things were actually quite isolated within communities because people actually did not travel as far as we do now. So when you think about the progress in travel and the way people shift around communities in the last 50 years the risk has become much much greater than it ever was in the past. It is also the science that we have developed over time and the thought development and also the tracking systems that we have. When everything was manual 50 years ago there was not the ability to do some of the things that we do now.The Health (Protection) Amendment Bill aims to amend and update the Health Act 1956. It also seeks to update the legislation around sunbeds. If I think back I cannot remember any of our parents brothers sisters or people back many many years ago actually having a fetish for sunbeds. I think people are now starting to learn the lessons of those sunbeds and we are starting to become aware of the harm that they are capable of causing.Good health is of crucial importance to New Zealanders young and old. This National Government has an unwavering focus over the past 7 years in respect of maintaining and improving our public health services. New Zealanders are receiving better and more convenient health care and it remains one of the Government’s priorities.During this bill’s time in select committee we heard over 70 submissions that came in. I was really really impressed to see the diligence that people applied when they were presenting their submissions. The other thing that I was really impressed with over the course of sitting and listening to those submissions was the way that different groups in the community that are working together to strive to make things better in the health sector were actually coming together and working on joint submissions to make their cases stronger. I was very very impressed with that. They did bring a lot of concerns to us. I would also like to commend the officials who were in the room because as you can imagine tracking a whole range of infectious diseases and contact tracing is actually quite a large thing to do. So we were always able to test and measure back with those officials for things saying: “Is this possible? Can we do it? The things that these people are asking for—is it possible to do that with your system?”. The reassurance that they gave us that it was possible certainly helped us to make our decisions.The provisions in this bill are multiple and they primarily allow for the tracing of people who have infectious diseases and the introduction of a ban on the provision of commercial UV tanning services to those individuals under 18. I have to say that this is the area where I feel that those people need to be protected more than in other areas. People who are under 18 have not actually had the opportunity to read as widely as older people and they are still very much minors. They are not old enough to vote and they need to be protected in that sense of the word.But I also want to make a comment. We heard before about how we have pubs letting in people who are 18 and people will not respect the law. Well to be honest pubs will only do that until somebody actually catches up with them and until somebody actually realises that they are selling alcohol to a minor. I believe that the regulations around this are going to ensure that these places are tested measured and audited in order to make sure that they are not breaching the legislation. I also think it is really important that they do have respect for the legislation whatever the age of people they are dealing with because we know so much more now about the dangers of how sunbeds are used. I think it is really important that the usage of them is much more under control because unfortunately this is an industry where it has largely been ignored. The more you ignore the regulations the more you open people up to health risks and the more you find that they are susceptible to getting melanomas from sunbeds.I too have to say that I am impressed with the overall cross-party support that was shown in the Health Committee. It is certainly rewarding to New Zealanders when we are able to work together to achieve great results. The Health Committee is definitely a pleasurable place to go and I give credit to all the members of the team. I have to say that it is also reflective of our chair Simon O’Connor who does a great job in chairing the committee. Since the first Act in 1956 as I have said before the knowledge and scientific development have put forward strong evidence in a lot of these areas. It was great to see that evidence coming in and having people talking to us.I am very pleased with the outcomes that we are putting forward this evening in the House. On balance I know we have heard a bit about whether we should widen the scope of sunbeds but I think the evidence of health harm gives sufficient justification for intervention particularly around those people who are under 18. Other than that the measures in this legislation largely provide for better tools for public health. We have a better opportunity for staff to deal with infectious diseases especially when people do not offer to seek voluntary treatment. So if somebody is not actually coming in and presenting with a disease and not obviously offering voluntarily to behave in a best-practice way around this then this legislation gives the officials a chance to do something about it. It places a duty on the medical practitioner who is in charge to provide information to officials who are in charge as to whether there are measures needed to prevent the further spread of disease. I think this is such an important thing and the cooperation between the health officials and the public means a safer environment for all New Zealanders.I want to say that we did have quite a bit of discussion and we did have some people coming in to the select committee who were rather concerned about privacy issues around that. But the bill has provisions in it that make sure that everybody’s privacy is absolutely protected. However there is always a balance and there is always a judgment and I think we are reaching that right judgment where there is a balance between the person’s own privacy issues and protecting the public as a whole. And so you do not get to the point where actually you are keeping someone’s privacy so quiet that the rest of the public are exposed to a huge risk.It is a pleasure to be here tonight supporting this second reading of the bill to improve the tracing of people and to increase the range of infectious diseases that are notifiable. I think it also provides a series of incremental options for the management of individuals with significant diseases whose behaviours do put others at risk of contracting a disease. There are a number of changes that will streamline legislation such as the inclusion of tuberculosis as a notifiable disease under the Act and the consequent repeal of the Tuberculosis Act 1948—that is an Act that goes back quite a way in time. It is my pleasure tonight to commend this second reading of the bill to the House. Thank you.