The End of Life Choice Act
"This [Act] is flawed. It is not what it seems to be."
Harete Hipango
Te Atihaunui a Paparangi and Nga Rauru
National MP for Whanganui and lawyer
"MPs & the general NZ public have no idea how
misguided & dangerous this KillBill
is and how it makes provision for abuse & misuse by ill intentioned persons who will be empowered under the provisions of the Act."
"Seymour & others [are] refusing to see (& listen) to the more knowledge & knowing I have of the system and comparative law."
Facebook post extract
Her Parliamentary speech
Minor Updates Via Harete.
*The bill is now an Act & would become law if voted in, by the public at the 2020 referendum/election.
It's already legal to turn off life support, we're voting on lethal injections (at this election for the EoLC Act).
As a Māori health lecturer at Otago University in Wellington Keri, wants Māori MPs to not 'sit on the fence' and instead make a definitive decision on the Act based on tikanga Māori.
Dr Keri Lawson-Te Aho
'I want them to make a decision that is a Māori decision, that is based on our tikanga, that is based on our respect and recognition of the mana and the mauri of every single one of our whānau.'
"I am saddened that the sponsor of the bill (now an Act) admits that there may be mistakes if this bill gets passed."
Jo Hayes
MP
Ngāti Porou, Ati Haunui, A Paparangi, Rangitane ki Wairarapa
"...there may be mistakes. Has life—has human life—got so little and inconsiderate and we've become so inconsiderate that we treat it like that. "Oh, it's just a mistake. That was a mistake." That's terrible. That's absolutely terrible...
"This bill goes against everything that is in my culture. We have our children. We treasure our children. We treasure each other. And there is no way that we would ever want to see a bill like this passed into any piece of the legislation of this country. I don't want to be part of it...
"As I look through it there's so many gaps, so many gaps. The cultural gap—the cultural gap—and I can say my people won't support it."
From diagnosis till dying by lethal dose can be as short as 4 days, according to the Ministry of Health.
"The Act misunderstands what it means to live and die."
Dame Tariana Turia
Ngāti Apa, Ngā Rauru,
Tūwharetoa
Former Minister for Disability Issues, Associate Minister for Health, and Minister responsible for Whānau Ora, and the founder and former leader of the Māori Party
Life and death are not individual events. There are very few people who are on the Earth by themselves. We exist as part of our families, our whānau and our communities. For many Māori, death is a process the whole whānau goes through together because the whānau is farewelling a part of itself.
It's a really important time in all of our lives when we are farewelling somebody we love and care for. It is the responsibility of all of us to be at one with one another.
The End of Life Choice [Act] would invade this sacred space. The [Act] would allow a person to request a euthanasia death without talking to their family, and a person could be killed without the family knowing. In treating the dying person only as an individual and not as a whānau member, the [Act] misunderstands what it means to live and to die.
I feel quite sad about this [Act] because it undermines the essential things we believe in as tangata whenua, saying that that's of no consequence. People, whether they be terminally ill, disabled, or old, are still members of families. It doesn't matter what their circumstances are.
NZ Herald
Watch Dame Tariana speak about this at DefendNZ
Your loved one could legally shop around until they find doctors who will sign off that they are eligible.
"It could be one of the most important decisions you'll ever make."
Kanoa Lloyd
Ngāti Porou
Television presenter
This is literally a matter of life and death.
I know which way I am voting after talking to my mum - she's a nurse, she works with people who are at the end of their life. I am voting No, because I think that there are ways to fix suffering, fix death, fix all the difficulties that go with death and that doesn't mean just having access to drugs and switching, flicking a switch.
I think there are people who are really good at this stuff and really good at looking after our loved ones as they come to the end of their life.
The Project
"Our Māori voices are not reflected in the Act itself."
Edmond Carrucan
Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Porou
Solicitor
I have crafted as part of this article two whakataukī.
“Ka mamae tētahi, ka maimai he aroha ki a tātou katoa” – “when one of us hurts, we all hurt and we all need to heal”.
“Ko te toikura, ko te toitāngata, me maumahara, kei pō, kei pōuri” – “people are the greatest wealth/treasure, this we must remember, for when we lose them, (especially elders and tamariki), we indeed are poorer for it.”.
Read more from Edmund on
Tikanga Māori Issues with the Proposed End of Life Choice Act
here.
No witnesses are required to make sure the person dying isn't being pressured.
"We don't have life with dignity."
John Tamihere
Whakatohea,
Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki
Māori Party Co-leader
The Māori Party will be voting against the End of Life Act and asking our people to, because we don't have life with dignity so why should we be talking about death with dignity, when the issue is informed choice?
Stuff
It's already legal to receive as much pain medication as needed. That's NOT euthanasia.
"This Act negates indigenous ideas and values."
Claire Freeman
Ngāpuhi
Disability advocate, tetraplegic model, PhD candidate
Māori are about whānau, about the collective, and about making decisions as a group. This Act negates a lot of those indigenous ideas and values that we hold.
DefendNZ
"How do we reconcile that with our tikanga?"
Rev. Chris Huriwai
Ngāti Porou
When I hear conversations and kōrero around euthanasia, straight away my mind flicks to how we as Māori frame our tangihanga rituals, how we understand death, and fundamentally this idea of death as something that is unwanted, something that is an aitua or an accident or something unfortunate, and I wonder how that impacts on our tikanga when we start to express more agency in that space.
So if a whānau or a person elects for that to take place, then how do we reconcile that with our acceptable practice and tikanga around tangihanga as it stands now?
RNZ
The wording for the EoLC Act is written, it's final & wouldn't change if voted in at this 2020 election/referendum.
"This Act undermines whānau."
Ria Earp
Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao
Advisor/Consultant Māori Health Services (with special focus on Palliative and Community Care)
This End of Choice Act presents a ‘choice’ for assisted dying or euthanasia for an individual and does not recognise the importance of involving whānau in such a decision. Whānau are central to Maori (and Pasifika) communities. Spirituality, especially at the end of life, reflects whānau coming together, to share their energy and care, for someone who is dying. Whānau, even while giving space to encourage independence, also fosters and recognises inter-dependence (team work) to care for dependents (those who rely on others for their care).
We have many Māori whānau and patients, especially in rural and poorer communities, who do not have access to good quality compassionate palliative care. They are left with no choice about their options.
What are we role-modelling for our youth? Aotearoa has some of the highest youth suicide rates in the world (especially amongst Māori and Pasifika young men). It tells our young people that choosing death is the solution to suffering and that there is no hope of joy or relief.
I’m voting ‘no’ to this referendum.
No witnesses are required by the NZ End of LifeChoice Act (EoLC). The process can happen in secret.
"The EOLC Act takes away all of that protection."
Dr Huhana Hickey MNZM
Ngāti Tahinga, Tainui, Whakatōhea
Disability rights advocate
First Māori woman to complete a PhD in law (about tikanga Māori and law)
New Zealand Human Rights Review Tribunal member
Euthanasia is all about disability. It’s about a fear of being disabled, and a desire not to have “the burden” of properly caring for people with disabilities.
In our society today there is nowhere near any sense of safety for a lot of disabled who are trying to live. And a lot of us are just trying to live. The message we’re getting from euthanasia is that, when we hit times when we may be suicidal or have suicide ideations, society is going to turn around and say, “Well maybe end your life, darling, it’d be less
burden for everybody, and you, you’ll be out of it all.”
When you realise, yes, okay, some people may think I’m a burden, but others actually
don’t see me as that – they enjoy caring for me. Some people may think I cost too much money, but for others, I’m creating jobs. We’ve got to look at things differently.
There’s enough knowledge now about how we can deal with people’s fears and suffering, but we aren’t having conversations about all of this. Instead, we’re only talking about ending people’s lives. And we’re only talking about that from a very Western perspective where the individual is the centre and sole consideration.
There’s no reason to change the law as it stands today. It is perfectly sufficient in my mind because if you want to end your life, you’re not criminalised for it. Get someone else involved, and that’s where criminal implications can arise. And the law is written that way to protect people from others influencing them or forcing them to end their lives.
Now what the End of Life Choice Act does is it takes away all of that protection. Say you have a disabled and terminally ill bullied wife or a bullied nana –
how do you prove that they’re not being coerced into ending their life, or that they’re not asking to be killed to escape the abuse? I have seen families abuse their family members, so I tend to be very wary of why we would go down the road that could give abusers power to bring about the death of those being abused.
We haven’t dealt with the terrible elder abuse and domestic abuse going on across this country, much of it still hidden. We haven’t stalled the high and growing issue of suicide rates in this country. We haven’t dealt with the issue of mental health in this country yet. We haven’t addressed the inequalities of funding for people with disabilities, or the societal barriers and prejudices that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. We haven’t solved inequalities in health care access for those in poverty and for Māori and Pasifika.
So why are we talking about bringing in a euthanasia regime?
Watch Dr Hu's video at Maxim Institute
Did you know?
Māori, whānau and the Treaty of Waitangi are not mentioned in the End of Life Choice Act.
This EoLC Act allows any eligible person from the age of 18 to make adecision of assisted dying/assisted
suicide without any input from their whānau.
"And what doctor will say ‘actually, your choice is influenced too much by your poverty?’ The coercion of poverty is subtle.
"
Rev Dr Hirini Kaa
Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu and Rongowhakaata
University of Auckland academic
"Euthanasia is supposed to be about ‘choice’. But poverty removes choice so euthanasia will kill Māori, the poor, the disabled, the marginalised and New Zealand will never talk about it."
Read more at
Euthanasia Debate
Photo Credit: The University of Auckland
It's already legal to turn off life support. We're only voting on lethal doses.
Prospective MP Says No to End of Life Choice Act.
Rawiri Waititi
Apanui, Ngai Tai, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tuhoe, Ngāti Awa, Te Arawa, Ngati Tūwharetoa, Ngai Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui
Standing for the Māori Party in Waiariki
Rawiri makes it clear on his Facebook page that he is against the End of Life Choice Act.
"I believe my position reflects the majority viewpoint in our community."
Dan Bidois
Ngāti Maniapoto
MP for Northcote
"I believe my position reflects the majority viewpoint in our community. The majority of correspondence I have received from locals has been opposed to the Bill, while my public meeting poll indicated that 70% of local attendees were opposed.
"In summary, I will not be supporting this Bill
(now an Act) in its second reading, for three key reasons:
1. There’s a lack of adequate safeguards to protect our most vulnerable. Ensuring that people are choosing assisted dying under free will without coercion is very difficult. I have no confidence that the Bill as written adequately protects our most vulnerable.
2.
This Bill sends the wrong message about suicide to our society. New Zealand has the worst youth suicide rate in the OECD. By passing the End of Life Choice Bill, we are sending wrong and conflicting messages to our young and helpless in New Zealand.
3.
Strengthening palliative care for all can help alleviate most cases. I believe that strengthening palliative care is the best way to provide comfort to most of those affected by this Bill in the final stages of their lives."
The EoLC Act Goes Against Te Whare Tapa Whā Model of Health.
A strong vote against.
Simon Bridges
Ngāti Kinohaku
MP for Tauranga
The vote for the End of Life Choice Act is NOT about turning off life support, that's already legal.
"Just because we can doesn't mean we should."
Dr Shane Reti
Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Kura
Whangārei GP for 16 years
MP, National Spokesperson for Health
"As a doctor, I proudly add my name to
1,694 medical practitioners
and ask New Zealanders not to pass this Act....I don't want an option of anything other than the very best care I can provide.
I draw on what it means for me to be Māori. This Act gives me grave foreboding. I understand some concepts of Te Ao Māori—where we came from, why we're here, where we are going—but my sense is that we reach here beyond where we are meant to reach. Just because we can doesn't mean we should."
Text updated from Dr Shane's Parliamentary speech with permission.
Watch his 5-minute
kōrero. He ends with three examples of famous composers who would have been eligible for euthanasia.
"Under euthanasia, this brightness would be gone from the world."
"I am not reassured."
Māmari Stephens
Te Rarawa
(Ngāti Moetonga, Te Rokekā)
Law academic, Victoria University of Wellington
Māori law expert
The initial medical professional who receives a request for assisted dying under section 11 (h) must:
"do his or her best to ensure that the person expresses his or her wish free from pressure from any other person."
These few words seem oddly subjective and lacking in effectiveness. The medical practitioner is not charged with “ensuring” the absence of coercion (and perhaps this is simply not possible), just doing his or her “best” to ensure such. Whatever “his or her best” might mean.
If that clause is all that stands between a coercive and abusive family and an elderly person choosing to die as a result of coercion, I am not reassured.
We all know that the law and lived reality are two very different creatures.
Make no mistake. Today there are elderly people, at least some of them Māori or Pacific, who will likely be subject to some degree of coercion, if assisted dying becomes legal in a country already distinguished by high rates of Māori suicide, and growing rates of suicide among the elderly.
Surely it’s time for more Māori and Pasifika speakers to step onto the marae ātea for this issue.
With permission by author
MP for Te Tai Tonga Voted No
Rino Tirikatene
Ngāi Tahu,
Ngāti Hine
Mr Tirikatene voted no at all three Readings of the Bill.
See how MPs voted at Reject Assisted Suicide NZ
"This Act is fundamentally opposed to those kaupapa."
Adrian Rurawhe
Ngāti Apa
MP for Te Tai Hauāuru
The overwhelming majority of people in his electorate told Adrian at eight public hui that they
did not want this bill.
"We talk about kaupapa Māori, terms that just roll of our tongue - manaakitanga, rangatiratanga, aroha - it even frames our international identity but will it frame what we want for our families in this bill, I say it will not, because it is fundamentally opposed to those kaupapa."
"All things have tapu."
Richard Kerr-Bell
Te Aupouri, Ngati Kuri, Ngapuhi and Te Rarawa
This is the essence of a Māori view: all things have whakapapa and come from somewhere,
and are related to something, or someone, to everyone. Within this system it follows that
all things have tapu/ dignity and worth through this relationship. From here we derive that all things have mana, a dynamic-power that emanates from this intrinsic value called tapu. Mana effects, calls out of us, elicits action, movement, response, it isn’t idle.
Aroha (love, compassion) ... adds life and brings peace, it cannot of its own definition and experience go against itself. It also means that
the End of Life beliefs do not sit with Māori practice or way of life. We are inherently wired this way and it is a sign of illness for Māori when life and a system creates distress and leaves most Māori living on the other side of wellbeing-indicator railway tracks.
Many Māori in professional roles within the health system will also feel compromised with respect to duties or expectations that may be experienced as culturally unsafe or anathema, affecting their own wellbeing, not to mention the challenges such practices could impose on current staff/institutions with ‘for-life’ beliefs and values.
There are more than enough health related issues of an immediate need facing large
populations of Māori to address ahead of the minority of non-Māori involved with
this Act.
___________________________________
Read all of 'Tiheiwa Mauri Ora! A Māori perspective of the end of life debate' (pdf), one of two position statements at the Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Tiaki Manatū Sisters of Mercy Ministries New Zealand Trust website.
Amster provided advice to public and private sector agencies on tikanga, protocols and practices for over 20 years.
The Late Amster Reedy
Aitanga-a-Mate, Putaanga, Tuwhakairiora, Uetohatu and Ngati Porou
"We bring people into this world, we care for them right from the time they are conceived, born, reared, in health, sickness and in death. The rituals still exist for every part of our lives....Euthanasia is foreign to Māori and has no place in our society."
Quoted in the
Nathaniel Centre
submission
"This Act fails to acknowledge the Treaty of Waitangi principles and Tikanga Māori.
"
Dominique Tamihana
Ngai Te Rangi & Waitaha
Law student
"This is the most tragic breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It fails to protect the fundamental taonga of Aotearoa. He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata."
"There are loopholes where the act could be used where it should not be used."
Submitted comments, from WM, Auckland.
Ngati kahu ki Whangaroa
"In all reverence to God, I could not agree with this bill. God said, Go Ye forth and multiply. Ending life is not multiplying.
I will be voting NO in this referendum."