Bond RiaRIA BOND (NZ First): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First and my colleague Barbara Stewart tonight to talk about in the Committee of the whole House the Financial Assistance for Live Organ Donors Bill. This is a good bill but New Zealand First feels that this bill should have come to the House a lot sooner than it has although we do understand the passage and journey that it has taken in terms of the time of 12 months that the bill spent with the Health Committee to make sure that it was able to have significant changes made to it and that when it got to the House it was a bill that represented everything that a member's bill should represent and everything that it should do; that is to enhance and remove barriers for the betterment to make a difference no matter how big or how small to the lives of New Zealanders. New Zealand First supports the recommendations from the Health Committee to change the title of this bill from the Financial Assistance for Live Organ Donors Bill to the Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill. This is justified because it provides donors with the appropriate compensation for lost income for doing such a selfless act that will have a significant impact on their lives not only for the organ recipient but also for the donor themselves. This is a life-changing decision and we believe that this bill—and the title will reflect this fact—is not merely financial assistance but it actually recognises the significance of the importance of this bill. New Zealand First believes that it is vital that live donors should never be financially disadvantaged or financially advantaged from donating organs. The concerns raised by the Attorney-General with regard to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act have been taken on board by the select committee which has accepted that there are beneficiaries who may receive income and be entitled to compensation or people who may work part-time and receive New Zealand Superannuation or even our veterans pension. New Zealand First supports the cost neutrality for donors by increasing the original compensation rate from 80 percent to 100 percent of lost income. New Zealand First does recognise that there are additional issues that do come about pre - organ donations and post too. We realise that the recovery rate for some people takes longer than it does for other people as well. New clause 4 does provide a definition of what are qualifying organs. This is good to see. We in New Zealand First think that it is important to define that not only is the donor a person who donates to a person funded by the public health service here in New Zealand but also the definition further sets out a qualifying organ" as the "whole or a part of any of the following types of human organ: (a) kidney: (b) liver: (c) any other type of human organ declared by regulations to be a qualifying organ." I just want to touch briefly on new clause 29 "Regulations". This will provide: "(1) The Governor-General may by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister of Health make regulations declaring a type of human organ to be a qualifying organ …" This is actually really good because this bill has also been futureproofed for donor transplants that are currently carried out in other countries but not here in New Zealand. These include the small bowel the pancreas and lobular lung transplants. We are also pleased to see the Health Committee has allowed for new entitlements to be backdated for eligible donors to the date this bill receives the Royal assent. This further takes away the deterrent to people who want to donate but hold back from donating an organ. In summary New Zealand First supports the member Chris Bishop's bill. This will not however deal with the issue of the low organ donor rates here in New Zealand but it will enable people who need help to get the help that they do need to get. These are members of our communities our families and our friends. This bill as I said earlier is what members' bills should represent. It should be what it is all about and that is to the betterment of New Zealanders. Thank you."