Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health)): E te Māngai o te Whare I stand in support of the Therapeutic Products Bill at the third reading at this point in time. For my part rongoā Māori has been something that is dear to my heart passionate amongst my community and led by my whānau. Māori have always determined what rongoā means how it's practised and who can practise it. I'm proud to say that today in supporting this bill that still remains the same. What this bill adds to the practice of rongoā is the protection for this taonga from those who may wish to exploit it—in short those who want to make a quick buck of ancient mātauranga Māori. They might want to ship it in bulk overseas or even denigrate its value or leverage off years of mātauranga Māori in the development of a particular product. The way this bill has been carefully shaped through its iterations including by listening to the clear expectations of our people means what has always happened with rongoā will continue to keep happening. Our romiromi will continue to keep rolling. Our mirimiri will keep soothing. Our taonga puoro will keep singing. Our mamaku who will keep healing and our karakia will keep soaring. Those simple lines there clearly speak to the breadth and the width of rongoā Māori. To simply try and define it to something such as a pill is incorrect. Understanding and appreciating rongoā Māori can only continue to enhance the offering of wellbeing not just to Māori in this nation but to everybody. The bill sets out that rongoā and mātauranga remain in the hands of our people. Its definition descriptions and explanations stay with our mātanga and with our tohunga and its ongoing protection and recognition as a taonga is safeguarded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the Crown's upholding of that responsibility. Ultimately though rangatiratanga remains with tangata whenua. I will note though as some of these submissions did insist on having a Te Tiriti o Waitangi clause in here this Government in its health reform work made it clear that our job is to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi by including a clause that will drive our health sector into the future.Like other members in the House I want to acknowledge everyone who participated in the bill's development from the careful hands that crafted the draft through to the committee members and the public servants who sifted through thousands of submissions and heard in person the aspirations of Aotearoa New Zealand. We wouldn't be here today if not for the many people who sent through written submissions came to our rongoā work stream hui or took to the streets and online forums to make their voices heard or grabbed every opportunity to grab the ear of a Minister walking through the street. We also wouldn't have gotten to this point today without the expertise and generosity of healers and experts who guided the Crown's thinking as it stepped through this very important landscape. So in addition to acknowledging the many people working within the machinery of Government most importantly I want to acknowledge our whānau and our communities; the kaitiaki of rongoā Māori who made it abundantly clear what they wanted us to do. I said it at the time ka rongo mātou. That's what democracy is about—hearing from the people in our communities and ensuring their views wants and aspirations are reflected in how we govern this country no matter the issue no matter the person. We've upheld that noble aspiration today which is a win for democracy and a win for communities and from my perspective a win for rongoā Māori.This also wouldn't have been possible without the leadership of my colleague the Minister the Hon Ayesha Verrall. Nō reira e te tuahine tēnā koe. [And so sis thank you.] Thank you for guiding our waka to this milestone today. Thank you for continuing to not only listen but to open your heart to what rongoā Māori means and how precious it is to the communities that practise it and receive it. As the Minister said the changes we've made to the Therapeutic Products Bill will ensure whānau will continue to create use and manage rongoā. So what does that mean for our communities? What it means in short is that rongoā services supply and activities will continue as they have for generations not just with the past at its heart but also a more contemporary use. I think of my time during the promotion of the COVID vaccines up and down this country where we saw rongoā Māori working hand in hand with Western science where one could receive a vaccination and then go into a wharenui have karakia have romiromi and to be able to reset themselves to get on with their lives.It means Māori maintain tino rangatiratanga over determining what rongoā means to them and defining who can be a rongoā practitioner. It means that in most cases rongoā will be excluded from the new regulatory system and not regulated in the same way that other natural health products will be. It means healers and those who support them can carry out their services and activities on marae and the many places that are important to not only Māori but all of our communities up and down the country. Healers can keep sending their rongoā to individual clients and our whānau. The bill makes it clear that the regulator can't make rules about how rongoā activities are carried out or set training and competency requirements for rongoā practitioners. We know that rongoā is already appropriately regulated by Māori communities. The bill respects that and acknowledges Māori as kaitiaki of rongoā. While we go through what this all means for our communities and how little will change it is also important to clarify that there are one or two circumstances where rongoā will be regulated. That is when rongoā is being sold for commercial wholesale activity such as supplying rongoā products in bulk to a chain of pharmacies or grocery stores either here or overseas. If that was the case then rongoā products would be regulated as natural health products. But most of the people who are making and supplying rongoā do not operate at this size or in this scale. So largely speaking this part of the bill will not apply to most of our rongoā community. For those that do operate in that space and there are some and some of them are iwi who look towards the opportunities that production of rongoā might have for them and their communities and other communities whether domestically or internationally they've asked that they make sure that they be given the opportunity to fall within this regulatory space and be given the opportunity to practice. We acknowledge the Government doesn't have all the expertise to protect rongoā in a way that upholds mātauranga Māori and upholds Te Tiriti o Waitangi. That's why we're establishing a committee to take on that protection role and guide the implementation of the bill alongside Māori. This committee will be made up of rongoā experts and Māori health leaders with experience in mātauranga in rongoā Māori.The rongoā Māori advisory committee serves an important but limited role under the bill. The committee won't screen or set qualifications or professional standards for rongoā practitioners but if questions come up around a particular activity that claims to be rongoā and is not regulated but perhaps should be the committee will give its expert advice to the new regulator. The regulator would then need to take the committee's advice into account before making the right decision. Heoi anō e te Whare—as you can see there is still more work to be done. I look forward to continuing to work with Māori as we begin to implement this bill together. There is no rush for the next steps. We have time to get things right. We are committed to walking that journey with our Māori partners and in this monumental occasion for the health system in Aotearoa this is a big win for the voices of our people. This bill will push out our waka that much closer to achieving pae ora healthy futures for all New Zealanders. Like my colleague the Minister I too commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.