Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s great to be able to take a call here this morning. Can I first acknowledge Louisa Wall for the work that she has done in bringing this private bill to the House. I can’t recall in recent memory a private bill getting up to this stage of debate. We often enjoy our high tide of comradery and collectivity when we are doing members’ bills, but they nearly always have a wide impact on society—at least we hope so, as member’s bill promotors.
It’s quite rare to get something that is reaching into an individual family who has had to go through a very painful experience because of a rule that is, by any rational measure, archaic and outdated, and have it brought to this House for it to be individually adjusted for that person. That is quite remarkable, and it does talk to Louisa Wall’s tenacity and persistence. But I must add to this conversation that Kyle Harris had also raised the issue with the National Party, both initially with Simon Bridges, as our then justice spokesperson, and specifically with Simon Watts, who worked with them to try and find a solution. It was then signalled that the Government side would pick this up, and, frankly, there’s no better person, in my view, with a track record of advocacy and getting outcomes for communities and individuals, than Louisa, who has brought it to this stage today.
When Louisa sent me the email, I have to admit I had to read it twice, not because the issue was complex, but I found it quite remarkable that biological parents who had established a close relationship with a surrogate who would carry their child, who would then go through the tragedy of losing, in this case, Katherine, and for them not to have Katherine noted on the birth certificate, because that was the rules—I looked at it again and I said, “Surely that can’t be right.” Surely in 2020, when you are the biological parents and you have a tremendous partner, if you like, in a surrogacy journey, there should be no reason that your role, be it past or present in terms of being the biological mother or father of this child, should not be able to be captured in an official document. It makes, I think, all of us wonder, regardless of our political persuasions in this House, how many rules over time have distilled, which at the time might have seemed relevant purposes but now seem completely out of whack with what an open, pluralistic, comfortable Aotearoa New Zealand is in terms of being able to express who they are and their connections with their own family and whakapapa. It seemed quite remarkable.
So it didn’t take us long from a National Party perspective, because of the good work that Simon Watts had already done on behalf of Kyle and Paige, for us to support this here today. I think Louisa has set out very clearly the problem that this specific bill seeks to address. I think all I would be doing is filling time if I went through it again. It’s very precise. It’s a specific change. It’ll enable Paige to have on her birth certificate a reference to Katherine, her mother, and that is just so important for Kyle, for Paige, the wider whānau, and the fact that we here as a Parliament can spend a short amount of time, as Louisa Wall said, fixing that injustice I think should really require no more conversation. The National Party entirely supports this.
