Annie Oxborough Birth Parents Registration Bill

I move, That the Annie Oxborough Birth Parents Registration Bill be reported to the House by 19 July 2023 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions), during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House, and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area, despite Standing Orders 193, 195, and 196.

Here I conclude my referral motion.

Does the member wish to speak to the motion?

Thank you, Mr Speaker—only briefly, to say that the reason that I have suggested the report-back date that I have voiced, and have, I think, tentative agreement for from the other side of the House, is simply for two reasons. It’s a relatively short period of time. One is that because the law only explicitly refers and relates to one particular person, I don’t think it will take longer than the, roughly, two months that I’ve suggested in order to do that, and the other reason is that by having a report-back date of mid-July, there’s a fighting chance that we’ll be able to pass this law before the end of this Parliament, which will be, if nothing else, a cause for some satisfaction, I think, and as much certainty as possible in this situation. Annie’s parents are alive now—her birth parents are alive now—and it would be wonderful if before too much longer, they were to have the opportunity to see this passed into law for their own sake as well as that of their daughter, Annie.

Motion agreed to.