Lee Melissa: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17088. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National):I would like first of all to acknowledge Rowen Sullivan and her mother Doreen Shields up in the gallery. Welcome and thank you for being here. It is almost like I am getting energy from up top. It is a great pleasure to rise in support of the third reading of this bill the Sullivan Birth Registration Bill. I am unsure how it actually happened but I am quite sure that I have been involved in this bill right from the beginning—from the first reading including turning up and being subbed on to the Government Administration Committee hearing when Rowen was actually presenting to the committee. I have been involved with the second reading as well I think as the Committee stage and now the third reading. It is an absolute privilege. Thank you. I would also like to put on record that I am extremely jealous of my friend across the benches Louisa Wall as she has shepherded successfully a very high-profile member’s bill and now is the sponsor of this private bill which I believe is very meaningful. So congratulations once again.A member said before dinner that this issue is simple and I think another member said that it is the little things that actually matter. I agree with both. They seem simple and little but only in hindsight. And you know what they say about hindsight—20/20 vision. At the time when Rowen and her mother Doreen were putting this private bill through the select committee and when they were petitioning Parliament I am sure it would have seemed like a mammoth task—that something that means so much to them was so hard to actually get through. But with the help of our friend Louisa and the members of the select committee this has actually happened. I cannot imagine Louisa with wings on her back but she should feel like a fairy godmother right now and all of the members who actually helped make this happen should also feel like fairy godmothers because it is granting Rowen the wish that she has been wanting for such a long time. So congratulations on being her very own fairy godmother.I know that at the conclusion of this bill’s third reading when Rowen’s birth mother’s name Diane Sullivan is again added to Rowen’s birth certificate the simple yet mammoth action of adding 13 letters “Diane Sullivan” will mean the world to Rowen and to us as members of Parliament—I also feel a bit like a fairy godmother at this stage as well. At this juncture I would also like to congratulate the members of the select committee who considered this bill. I have to say I think they have done a fantastic job.Just a quick background on this bill. It does not create a precedent for other individuals seeking to change their registered birth record and that is a real shame because I would not mind changing my birth date. Rowen Sullivan had no means to achieve this outcome that she wished for other than by petitioning Parliament. This bill applies only to Rowen Sullivan’s unique situation which arose as a result of a unique combination of circumstances that began with her birth overseas which meant that her birth was not registered in New Zealand.I want to dwell on this for just a minute about the registration issue. It is quite a significant one for many New Zealanders who are born overseas. Without wanting to make light of Rowen’s situation I too was born overseas. I moved to New Zealand and became a New Zealand citizen which meant I had to give up Korean citizenship. This does not mean that my records were deleted but when I moved here—just bypassing all of the other stuff—I got married I had a baby and I got divorced. In New Zealand I am recorded as such but in Korea apparently I am still single have never been married and have never had a child. So I have got a clean record.Scott Simpson: A clean slate.MELISSA LEE: A clean slate. I mean I do not know whether that is actually a good thing or a bad thing but I am not recorded in Korea because I have moved here.Talking about records in previous readings I talked about my birth date being registered wrongly. I know that this is an issue for a lot of migrants as well and for a lot of refugees who moved to New Zealand especially when they have come from war-torn countries. They have wrong birth dates and wrong names. Even New Zealand - born Chinese who have five generations in New Zealand can attest to this. When they first arrived in New Zealand their names were recorded wrongly. Often they ended up with the first name of their ancestor. To my culture our last names mean so much because it ties us back to our roots. The name actually shows that it is my clan. Often it comes with a prefix that denotes and shows which clan we belong to. Often it comes with a generational name which basically means that with that name people can identify whether I am at a grandmother’s level a child’s level or a mother’s level so people know how to identify us. Names are so very important. So Louisa maybe you can come up with another member’s bill to right my birth date. Aside from the joke I would like to just say thank you and congratulations once again. Rowen my love thank you.