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Supplementary Order Paper No 334

No 334

House of Representatives

Supplementary Order Paper

Tuesday, 10 September 2019

End of Life Choice Bill

Proposed amendment

Melissa Lee, in Committee, to move the following amendment:

Clause 19

After clause 19(3) (page 14, after line 9), insert:

(4)

A member of the SCENZ Group who becomes aware that they have a close association (whether financial, personal, or professional) with a person whose actions or inactions are being considered by the SCENZ Group in accordance with its functions detailed in subsection (2) must recuse themselves from such consideration.

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the End of Life Choice Bill. It would provide some basic protection against the possibility of unmanaged conflicts of interest.

The relatively close-knit nature of the medical community and New Zealand professional life more generally—combined with the review and overview functions of the statutory body, as detailed in this clause—requires that the proposed legislation contemplates how the inevitable conflicts of interest are to be managed.

Such clarity is important if the body is to be considered credible, as well as for the protection of individual New Zealanders.