Bond RiaRIA BOND (NZ First): I am pleased to rise on behalf of New Zealand First and my colleague Barbara Stewart to take the call on the third reading of the Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill. New Zealand First has supported the member Chris Bishop's bill through all stages in its passage through this House. This is a bill that had great intentions. It was drafted by one member adopted by Minister Michael Woodhouse and then adopted by Mr Bishop. New Zealand First is pleased that this bill did go through to the select committee and we were really pleased that the Health Committee could actually scrutinise this bill and listen to the submitters and take the advice of the expert advisers. What has come back to the House—I think we have all said it today—is a bill that is more fit for purpose and that can actually as a member's bill be to the betterment of citizens here in New Zealand and also there is not a penalisation ability within the bill itself.We have heard this afternoon that this bill seeks to address some of the problems of the low rate of organ donors here in New Zealand compared with international standards. One barrier that has become a burden on donors has been the financial burden donors have had to suffer with. To be eligible to receive only the sickness benefit and also some childcare assistance—I was actually quite shocked when I first learnt about this. I personally know people who have donated a kidney and I do know that their recovery rate was quite different to other people who have donated a kidney. So I think that the issues with the current system have been addressed and worked really hard on by the Health Committee and its advisers. It is something that I am absolutely proud about as I deliver our call in the House today.As I have just said we in this House know that recovery times for patients are not a one-size-fits-all—they all react differently. These selfless amazing and life-saving individuals have not only given a stranger a donation but have also given that person the ability to improve their life. I absolutely echo what the Hon Annette King said earlier which is that these people are actually heroes. They are hidden heroes and they have done such a good job in helping out people here in New Zealand. New Zealand First knows that we have approximately 200000 people who have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Of these about 2600 are currently on dialysis and of those 2600 there is a waiting list of around 700 citizens desperately seeking and waiting for a kidney transplant. New Zealand does have one of the worst live organ donation rates in the world. The level has remained the same now for 5 years. Sadly last year there were fewer than 150 kidney transplants here in New Zealand. The Ministry of Health advised the select committee that donations from both live and deceased donors are not enough and this is where this bill can help elevate the number and encourage live donors to come forward and help a stranger to improve their life. In the Committee of the whole House stage New Zealand First supported the recommendations from the Health Committee to change the title of this bill from the Financial Assistance for Live Organ Donors Bill" to "Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill". This was justified because the bill will provide donors with appropriate compensation for lost income for doing such a selfless act that will have a significant effect not only on the donor recipient but also on the donors for making a life-changing decision to help improve a person's life rather than merely provide a perceived financial assistance payment to donors which would play down the significance of this bill. New Zealand First feels that newly inserted clause 3 which says "The purpose of this Act is to remove a financial deterrent to the donation of organs by live donors." is absolutely vital. It is vital that live donors should be neither financially disadvantaged nor 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 accepted there are beneficiaries who have income and would be entitled to compensation or people who may have part-time work or those receiving New Zealand superannuation or a veterans pension. This clarifies the original concerns raised by the Attorney-General regarding the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. New Zealand First does support the cost neutrality of donors by increasing the original compensation rate from 80 percent of forgone income to 100 percent of lost income. New Zealand First recognises that there are additional issues that can be quite complex in organ donation and this will no longer put undue pressure on donors who can donate and who want to donate to be left out of pocket financially or to face the risk of losing employment because of pre-transplant needs and post-transplant recovery rates. This will help significantly those citizens who choose to make the selfless and life-changing choice to donate an organ. It is great we now also have a definition of what a "qualifying organ" is. This was good to see. We in New Zealand First think that it is important not only to define that the donor is the person who donates to a person funded by the public health services in New Zealand but that the definition further sets out the "qualifying organ" as being "the whole or a part of any … human organ:" such as a kidney liver or "any other human organ declared by regulations to be a qualifying organ." We do feel that newly inserted clause 29 is the regulatory tool in this bill. It states: (1) "The Governor-General may by Order in Council made on the recommendations of the Minister of Health make regulations declaring a type of human organ to be a qualifying organ …". It is good to see that this bill has also been futureproofed for further live donated transplants carried out in other countries but not yet here in New Zealand. These include small bowel pancreas and lobular lung transplants. We are 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 for people who want to donate but who hold back on donating an organ. We are also pleased to see the shift in responsibility in this bill from the Ministry of Social Development to the Ministry of Health. This actually made common sense.So in summary New Zealand First supports the member Chris Bishop's bill. This will not however deal with the problem of low donor rates here in New Zealand. We believe that common-sense changes have been added for the better. However there is still so much more that we could be doing in New Zealand.I would like to touch on what other members in the House have also said so I do apologise that you are hearing this again. The current system here in New Zealand is difficult because the only way that we can register to be a donor is through our drivers' licences. We believe that this could have been looked at and maybe Mr Bishop may wish to put another member's bill forward in the near future to look at this issue which is a resounding issue in New Zealand. We do know that as other members have said when you tick that box and you become a donor on your driver's licence your family can actually stop that and the legal issues surrounding that cannot be enforced. That causes a lot of grief as Poto Williams alluded to earlier. We do believe that this should be addressed in the future. So finally New Zealand First supports this bill because it will enable more organ donations for people who really need help: members of our community our family and our friends. Thank you."