O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): I'll just refer to my colleague Andrew Bayly and when he spoke about coming to this House as an MP and that this is the moment that we really come here for and that we actually need to make a decision—it's the moment we actually have to stand up ourselves and decide. There's nowhere to hide. It's something I quite like about being an MP: there is nowhere to hide here and this is that time. There is no right answer; there is a best option. Those that come to this House thinking there's an absolute around this unfortunately will always be disappointed.I've come to this debate at various stages. When we came to the first reading I knew that I'd be going on the select committee which would get to consider this bill. So for that reason it was a relatively easy decision for me even though I didn't really know where I stood on it ultimately but I looked forward to the fact that I was going to be on the select committee I was going to travel the country I was going to read many of the 38000 submissions I was going to hear many of the 3000 live submissions—as a trained investigator I would actually get to hear and see the evidence and make my mind up.I was a little disappointed with the select committee because we didn't get to debate or even examine at select committee the main clauses or the main part of this bill. So you'll note that when it's reported back it wasn't reported back on the important parts of the bill particularly those protections.So it then came to the second reading. I spoke in favour of the bill at the second reading because it was then going to come to the committee stage where again we were going to have the opportunity as we are now to examine the bill to its nth degree. Unfortunately—and this is no reflection on those that brought the Supplementary Orders Papers (SOP)—it was a little difficult during the early stages of the committee stage because there were so many SOPs—there was a plethora of them. Unfortunately my colleague Mr Macindoe accused many of those who didn't have strong feelings against the bill of not participating. One of the problems was that it was hard to participate because the plethora—it was like a shoal of whitebait coming at us the number of SOPs. I don't mean to make light of that but being a West Coast lad perhaps that's the analogy I'd use. It was very hard to pinpoint. I was quite disappointed at the early stages of early parts of the bill that it was very hard to really come to a debate. So I took the knowledge—as many here did with the readings and the select committees they've gone to they then voted on the knowledge they had.So we've come to quite an important part now particularly Supplementary Order Paper 361 in the name of Jenny Marcroft. Many of the arguments both in my electorate and that we heard at the Justice Committee were around You are wrong" accusing us those of us in select committee that we are wrong—"Look at us there are 90 percent of us here; therefore you are absolutely wrong and the majority don't want this." Well I think we really are at the stage now where after all of those arguments that we've heard all of the various SOPs we come together to this moment. Actually one of the most important arguments against being put up time and time again is that the majority of New Zealanders don't want this. I now have no hesitation in supporting the referendum simply because so much of the discussion and so many of the arguments that have been thrown my way thrown the way of many of my contemporaries—those for and against the bill—are that the majority of New Zealanders simply don't want that.So don't be afraid of this. There is no right answer; there is a best option. Have some faith in our fellow New Zealanders. Have a look at what the SOP says. It's pretty simple: "Yes I support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force."—that's pretty simple. Those of you who get around your markets get around your cafes get around your churches or get around various places where our constituents meet most New Zealanders are pretty bright people."No I do not support the End of Life Choice Act 2017 coming into force."—it's nothing that any of us need to be afraid of. We've come to this point now and we'll probably come to other points during this debate but I'm actually more relaxed now about supporting this SOP. I'm more relaxed about this going to the next stage and going to the people of New Zealand than I ever have been."