Kanongata'a-Suisuiki AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI (Labour): Te Mana Whakawā thank you for the opportunity to speak on this the End of Life Choice Bill. I would like to acknowledge all the people who took the time to email me to write to me in many forms through social media and to speak to me in person with their varying views. Thank you for your respect.I believe and support the concept of death with dignity and comfort with the context of effective pain relief and loving care for those who are desperately ill and facing death. We all die. It is a natural phenomenon. I speak from my insights as someone who has experienced sharing a journey with my relations at the beginning of their death—their final breath through to the burial grounds or to the furnace at the crematorium. I have been at their bedside as they took their final breath. They passed away with dignity despite their varying ages and their terminal illnesses. It was a spiritual experience to be with a dying person at the final stage of their life—to feel their warmth fade away as they lay there peacefully and allowed us the closest relations the opportunity to release our pain in losing our loved ones.No matter how the bill has been altered I believe the core of the bill—the purpose—is to sanction in the law of the land the premature ending of a human life as evidenced by the example of Canada where an overwhelming majority that choose this pathway actually die at the hand of others. Someone did it; the majority didn't do it to themselves. For the people communities and the deeply held values I represent in these matters the premature ending of human life at the hand of others is unethical and abandoning the values of respecting and protecting human life—the core focus of so much of what we do in law.I was born in a village in Hōfoa in a country called Tonga based in the South Pacific. Dr Linita Manu'atu the chair of the Tongan Language Week committee describes the Tongan people as spiritual and cultural as reflected in Tonga's motto: Ko e 'Otua mo Tonga ko hoku tofi'a. [God and Tonga are my inheritance.]—God being spiritual; Tonga cultural.As a New Zealander by citizenship I live in a country—our country Aotearoa New Zealand—that opens its Parliament with a prayer. It begins with the words Almighty God". Our very own New Zealand national anthem begins with "God of nations at Thy feet". I took the oath the New Zealand Oath of Allegiance to the Queen ending with "so help me God." I make the point that God is present in our nation's history and traditions through parliamentary prayer and through the national anthem.I stand with the religious leaders who stated in their email to me dated 7 November—and I quote—"We understand both the need to balance as well as the difficulty of balancing individual choice with the common good … We also recognise the great distress faced by some patients and their whānau and friends in the case of certain intractable and prolonged terminal illnesses. However on balance in the current circumstances we firmly believe that legalising medically-assisted dying will open the gateway for many [unforeseen or foreseen] consequences … will be damaging to individuals families and the social fabric of our communities."My opposition to this bill is not about Christians forcing their opinions on to non-Christians. If anything the sponsor and the supporters are themselves forcing their individual values on to others. Parliament—and society in general—is about competition and clash of causes and values. So the bill is the prime example of that.As a Christian I believe in the sanctity of life but that right and belief is enshrined in most nations' constitutional documents around the world in the United Nations key covenants in the historical development of democracy in the rule of law and in numerous other sources. Believing in the sanctity of life and therefore opposing this bill is not purely a Christian view but it is a view based on different views of politics the medical profession philosophy and various other disciplines.I am not sure whether this House noticed that for a year I was in tauanga'a [mourning]. When I wore only black-coloured clothing from 12 October 2018 until 12 October 2019 I was mourning the loss of my fa'ē-tangata  my maternal uncle Nofovao-'i-Taitai Semi Pule'i Vai Kanongata'a. He was 76 years old when he passed away just over a year ago a month short of his 77th birthday. He was diagnosed as terminal. However he lived with cancer for a year and a half. What this bill proposes is that the choice of ending his life prematurely will now be an option.On behalf of my kāinga I want to extend our gratitude to all the doctors and nurses in Middlemore Hospital. The nurses were amazing. They cared for him with honour and respect. They made sure he was comfortable and they made sure we as a family were always comfortable. The hospital staff kept their doors open as family members came in and out. They treated us with gentle kindness. They had done so many times before. We witnessed them tirelessly providing the same care to all the patients and their families. My point is that we as a family had an opportunity to laugh to tell jokes and for me now and then when I had time to leave Parliament—I got a telling off; we had to laugh but we laughed with our family member.I received an email yesterday from the Hon Meka Whaitiri the email from Dr Aileen Collier. What stood out for me in the email information was that Dr Collier's information said—and I quote—"The first issue is the issue of choice. Choice can be an absence of other choices." Most people who support this bill do so because they want to defend people's right to choose but I can tell you now that if you pass this bill people will make this choice to die due to an absence of other choices. Dr Collier continues to talk about "If you pass this bill we'll be in a mess. Conscious objection has not been improved through the SOP processes. Nurses are going to be involved." She further in her email states "The job as a nurse is hard enough."I acknowledge Dr Ate Moala who today outside on the forecourt voiced the concerns of Doctors Say No the 1500 doctors echoed by my colleague there Dr Shane Reti.I want to talk about the fact that not all Pacific people or not all Tongans are opposed to this bill. But as someone from a collective I want to say that this individual choice ends with their choice to end their life but that is the beginning of the death process.I asked a colleague who supported this bill. I said "What about the cleaner?" Has anyone ever thought about the dignity of the cleaner who has to clean up? Has anybody thought of the dignity of the person who digs the grave? Has anybody ever thought about the person who turns on the furnace? Has anybody ever thought about the dignity of the living people? The response to my question was "So what about the cleaner?" Mr Speaker and to this House the point that I'm trying to make is that it's an individual choice to end one's life but that is just the beginning of the end of the life. That is the beginning of services provided by others. And when we say the word "service" the people who provide those services fade away; they are not just "service".In conclusion I want to again say thank you to the Rev. Hola Paea and the church steward at the Papakura Tongan Methodist church that I attended on Sunday. I want to thank them for the encouragement of me to have the courage to stand in Parliament and confirm my faith as a Christian person. On that note I oppose this bill on their behalf. Mālō 'aupito."