Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Tēnā koutou katoa. I move, That the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill be now read a second time.

It is an absolute pleasure to stand in this House, 34 days after the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill was introduced to Parliament. I particularly want to thank the Governance and Administration Committee for an expedited process, so to you, Mr Chair, who is the Speaker this afternoon, I thank you very much and the members of your committee.

For background, this bill will enable the name of Paige’s late mother, Katherine Harris, to be recorded on her New Zealand birth record. Paige was born of surrogacy and was carried by a close friend of Kyle and Katherine, Renee Johnson. Renee was supported by her partner, Josh, who we found out through the select committee process was the number one advocate for Karl and the family, and we certainly appreciated his contribution. Paige’s biological mother, Katherine, died before Paige was born, and Paige will turn two on 25 March 2022.

In deciding what I should contribute today, I want to begin with the submission of Alison Fraser, who is Paige Harris’ grandmother. Katherine Harris was her daughter. Alison Fraser’s contribution to the select committee deliberation was, essentially, that laws for surrogacy and adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand are not fit for purpose. How can we be in a situation where the genetic mother of a child is not registered on her birth record and therefore can’t be registered on her birth certificate? For those who don’t know the story, currently Paige Harris’ birth certificate has “mother” as “not recorded”. And that’s what this piece of legislation, this private bill, is attempting to do.

I think from that perspective we have to decouple in some ways surrogacy from adoption, which is the current practice within our jurisdiction. We have an ability to decouple adoption from surrogacy within the context of my colleague Tāmati Coffey’s member’s bill, and I know Tāmati will have an opportunity to contribute to this debate as well, because, along with me, he was the other submitter on this piece of legislation.

So the philosophical change that this bill will, hopefully, bring about is to enable an ethical process at the beginning of a surrogacy that will ensure that a genetic parent does not have to go through an Oranga Tamariki assessment, does not have to go through a court process that can cost up to $10,000, and does not have to adopt, in fact, their own biological genetic child.

From my perspective, I focused in the submission process on the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and the fact that convention 3 reinforces the best interests of the child, and in Paige’s case, the best interests of Paige is for her mother, Katherine Harris, to be recorded on her birth record and therefore her birth certificate. Under convention 7, Paige has the right to a name and nationality and convention 8 is about the right to an identity, which I think is at the heart of this legislation. Paige’s identity stems from the fact that she is Kyle Harris’ and Katherine Harris’ daughter, and so we are here today to ensure that this piece of legislation enables that.

Finally, in terms of those submissions, I want to give a bit of a shout-out to Josh Johnson, a very good friend of Kyle and Katherine. It was his wife, Renee, who was the surrogate, and he fronted up to the select committee and told an incredibly compelling story of an over two year process, before Katherine passed away, of trying to find a solution so that baby Paige could have her mum, Katherine, listed on her birth certificate.

I just want to say again to Josh, as I did during that process, what an amazing advocate and friend and spokesperson he was for Kyle, who I want to acknowledge did not participate in the process. After a two-year fight and the fact that his wife had died and he had been motivated to seek his redress for his daughter Paige—he had previously said he would fight his entire life for the right of his daughter to have her mother on her birth certificate—I think the realisation that it was about to happen, that this Parliament had unanimously supported it, that we were expediting this legislation on his behest because he wanted it completed before his daughter turned two, was incredibly overwhelming. But, Josh, you were incredibly compelling and I want to thank you again for your contribution to the debate on Paige’s bill.

An amendment that has been proposed by the select committee is to replace “registration of birth” with “birth record.”, because, in fact, you have to register the birth of Paige before you can then obtain a birth certificate from the Department of Internal Affairs, from Births, Deaths and Marriages. So that will enable a subsequent birth record to reflect that Katherine Elizabeth Harris as mother of Paige Katherine Elizabeth Harris, alongside the details of Kyle Jason Harris as Paige’s father. That’s what we are enabling through the passage of this legislation through the House today. So, without further ado, I commend the bill to the House. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is my first intervention in the House since yesterday’s news that that my good friend and colleague the Hon Simon Bridges was going to retire from it. I mention that in this context for two reasons: one is Simon Bridges and Todd Muller were actually involved in this case in the early stages—so this has been a success with a number of contributors—but, secondly, when he was asked by media yesterday what he would remember most about his political career, he did talk about a few transport projects, but he actually talked about the really important work that we as MPs do for the people we serve. I wouldn’t trivialise it by saying the smaller things, but the things that have a really, really big impact on individuals’ lives, that we don’t always get success for, but, when we do, picking up the phone and being able to say we’ve got a solution for you, we’ve got a win for you with ACC, or Housing, or Immigration, is actually one of the great moments, I think.

Louisa Wall probably has more luck than any other member in Parliamentary history in member’s bill ballots, and will pass more legislation in her time here than some Ministers will. So I’m confident that, in Louisa Wall’s rocking-chair moments, she would look back on this piece of legislation as a really important thing for the Harris family, but actually emblematic of what good we can do and how important that job of an MP is.

I’m not a huge fan of expedited processes, as the House knows. I think we risk, sometimes, rushing bills and getting them wrong—and this isn’t one of those occasions. I think all parties were pleased to agree to a process that had this legislation passing, I think it’s prior to the end of this month, and the selection of people to make submissions, to the invitation to make submissions, the excellent work that officials did in advising the committee—so ably chaired by the chair of the Governance and Administration Committee, a person, Mr Speaker, you know very well, and I congratulate that person—and a real shared sense of wanting to get this right for Paige.

In Tāmati Coffey’s submission—I mean, I went on a bit of a voyage of discovery. I didn’t know much about surrogacy law in this country but I was staggered that, as Louisa Wall has just alluded to, the revelation that the biological parents have no rights at birth without having to go through a prolonged process—indeed, to change the law in this case. We’re changing outdated legislation all the time, some of which was passed in the 1980s and 1990s. This is an Act, the Adoption Act, I think—from 1955; it was a busy year, 1955—that could not have possibly foreseen technology and society changing in the way that it has to even give rise to the sorts of situations we have, and so I am wholly supportive of Mr Coffey’s member’s bill. My mild rebuke might be that it is important enough to, frankly, be on the Government’s agenda, and I think there’s a wider review of the Adoption Act that’s necessary and probably going on. So I look forward to that also being expedited.

But it really is absolutely staggering to me that the biological mother, tragically taken prior to the baby’s birth, has to go through these hoops to be recognised, and for Paige Harris to have a birth certificate that reflects reality. It’s not a waste of this House’s time but we don’t want to be doing this again—there have been a number of times where we’ve had to do this. I hope we can, just as quickly, expedite Tāmati Coffey’s bill—well, not just as quickly, but as smoothly—because there are some questions in it that will mean that this is the last time we ever have to do that. I look forward to this passage, today, as quickly as possible.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): The question should have been that the motion be agreed to and, fortunately, it was. I call—and it’s a remote call—Tāmati Coffey.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I acknowledge the family, actually, who will no doubt be listening this afternoon and will bring, for them, closure on what’s been a harrowing and emotional rollercoaster of a journey, one where science, as the previous speaker has gone and alluded to, has gotten ahead of our wider area of law which deals with the issue of surrogacy. Science has indeed taken off, and there is a lot more work to do in the area of surrogacy to make it fit for purpose so that we have modern laws for our increasingly modern families that choose to use surrogacy arrangements to be able to start their families. When I gave my submission to the committee, I wanted to focus on that, and I think it’s really important that we don’t lose sight of that.

This is about growing families. This bill is about growing a family and giving it the strongest foundation that we can possibly give it in the eyes of the law to make sure that they are able to move forward into this world, albeit without Paige’s mum, Katherine, but for the rest of their family to know that baby Paige has a mum and has a dad and is part of a village, actually—a village of people—that love and support her.

For many people, they may think that just a name on a birth certificate is a little thing, but, actually, when it comes to identity, as my colleague Louisa Wall has mentioned, it’s everything, because what it does is it connects you. Just this week, I put a post up on my Facebook page, having taken a trip down to Wellington and spent the weekend reconnecting with my Te Ātiawa side down there. I put a post up talking about how whakapapa is everything. Family connection is everything, and as we talk about the cost of living, actually, let’s just spare a thought about the best things in life, which are free, and those things are the fact that we do have relations. We do have grave sites that we can visit to go and connect to those people. We do have reminders in our family via cousins and aunties and uncles and people that wrap around us at times when we need them.

Connection is everything, and I hope that today, while we do this, we really do amplify the voices—the many voices—that have come to Parliament seeking justice in the area of surrogacy, such as Kyle and Katherine, Josh and Renee, baby Paige; such as Christian Newman, who fronted up to Parliament asking for wider changes around speeding up the process so that we can get families started on their journey, be it surrogacy or be it through adoption. There is a lot more work to do on this, and I’m glad that the Law Commission are taking that opportunity too. We should be expecting their wider, deeper dive into the area of surrogacy. Their report is expected to be back with us really soon—next month, in fact. So I’m looking forward to seeing that and to seeing issues like this dealt with through their report.

They’re also looking into wider things like international surrogacy and where things should land on that, and I’m hoping that my little member’s bill—I’m hoping that it actually gets, after it’s had its first reading, whenever that happens to be, swallowed up by a lot of the wider reforms that are going on in this area. But the idea of a surrogacy order is really important to this conversation, because in my bill I talk about a surrogacy order, something where, well in advance of a couple deciding to enter into a surrogacy arrangement, if there is a court order where they’re able to go through the process with the surrogate as well and make sure that they have nutted out all of those terms and conditions formally through the court, things like who goes on the birth certificate—those things can be dealt with in advance. Should a person die in that process, then, actually, the surrogacy order should have dealt with this. Unfortunately, the bill’s not passed, so we’re here putting through this private bill.

I want to thank again Louisa Wall, my colleague, for doing this. Michael Woodhouse, my other colleague, from the other side of the House, is incredibly right: she has a way of working this political system from the inside to achieve change for people like Kyle, people like Katherine, and for people like Paige. Can I finish my contribution just by acknowledging Josh, who has been the person who has called up the MPs, whether it’s Todd Muller or Simon Bridges or Louisa Wall or myself. He’s the one that’s been doing the hard yards, calling everybody up and making sure that this was an issue. I got a phone call about this from Paddy Gower, because, actually, this had hit the media, this story, and rightfully so.

I also had a phone call from the Children’s Commissioner, Judge Andrew Becroft. He was really concerned about this too, and he was looking for avenues to be able to support. So that was all because of you, Josh. If you’re listening, this is all because of you, and you’re a top friend to Kyle and a top uncle to baby Paige as well. When this passes today, I hope that you are able to breathe that sigh of relief that you’ve been looking for for quite some time. But I’m going to be standing here, ushering this through, and when we finally get wider reforms in the surrogacy area, I’ll be here ushering that through as well, because, as the former speaker said, there are some anomalies in the law that currently exist that shouldn’t be there: the fact that a biological parent should have to stand in a court of law and adopt their own child shouldn’t happen. We should be able think of better ways to be able to go through a surrogacy arrangement and make sure that everybody leaves with their mana intact. At the moment, that’s not currently the case.

So, through this private member’s bill, if we can get some instant change, then that should be encouraged. I’m heartened that this has got support from all around the House, and I do look forward to the first reading of my bill when that time comes, but hopefully also wider reform in this area too. So, with that said, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to take a short call on this and acknowledge, obviously, the family involved here, but I also want to acknowledge the work of Louisa Wall who, as the former MP for Manurewa—she and I with our electorates, or her then electorate, sitting very close towards mine on boundaries—we’ve had an awful lot to do with each other over the years. And what I’ve seen is, with Louisa, and I think this is true for the whole of the National Party caucus, I think I speak for us all on this, when I say we have a tremendous amount of respect for Louisa, and her ability to reach out across politics and political views, and to be able to engage with us and others in Parliament in a responsible, adult manner without any personal animosity. So thank you, Louisa, for taking up this cause, reaching out to a family in need.

I think many of us who look at this and think of the situation: this darling little girl, her mother died three months before she was born. Of course, when we were growing up—and I think I include us all here—this was just simply not possible. But, with technology, with science, with research, innovation—all areas very close to my heart—this has actually been able to happen. But it’s also been able to happen because of the tremendous kindness of friends—close friends—to Katherine and to Kyle. So this little girl, aged two years old now, she cannot be expected to go through life with no mother recorded on her birth certificate. This is simply not acceptable. And it is a big thing for Parliament to take time to look after one little girl. But, as has been said today, this is one little girl now, Paige, but can we ever imagine her trying to even get registered into school or being able to get a passport, with no mother recorded on her birth certificate? She’d have to explain everything over and over and over again. She’d have to explain that her mother, Katherine Elizabeth Harris née Fraser, died on 28 December 2019, at the very young age of 37, and that she was a much-loved daughter, wife, and, now, mother.

So we need to correct the situation and—I’m sure the whole House knows that I’m a lawyer—I think the law has to constantly evolve. It’s got to constantly evolve to meet the challenges but also the opportunities that technology and science innovation actually give us. For something like this to happen, whereby the House is, in a very quick manner, going to be able to remedy the situation of Paige’s mum’s name not being on the birth certificate, it is important—and Tāmati Coffey has referred to it, of the need to better reflect the surrogacy laws—to reflect the reality for a growing number of New Zealand families.

I am very fortunate to be very close friends with a family who have had children by surrogacy. Their children have been born overseas; they have had to go through the process of adopting children. I have, myself, in practice, been involved in adoptions, as a lawyer on the odd occasion. Very few cases ever went through, and now most of them are about surrogacy. So that tells us we need to adopt and adapt to the modern world, and the fact is that, yes, sometimes people are having children later. Sometimes people do need to have the help of a surrogate. But I also think that we need to look at the recognition of those surrogate mothers. To do what they do to be able to help their family, friend, or even someone that they’ve met and they want to help them, to have a child, is an extraordinary thing. What a marvellous thing to do for someone else. I don’t think I would do it—I mean, obviously not now—but I don’t know how they could even do that. Because it is such a gift, such a wonderful thing to do for somebody who is otherwise going to miss out on the joys of parenthood.

So I would like to acknowledge the family of Paige, and those who’ve enabled this to happen—for a surrogate mum, for surrogate mum’s husband, but also for her dad, who has helped so much to have this happen. This is a great day, when Parliament can sort these things out, and I look forward to us being able to address these issues in a wider context, so that we better reflect the people that we represent. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. I want to reiterate the support from the Greens for this bill around the House. I want to begin by acknowledging the love of Kyle and Katherine. I want to acknowledge that it is that love which has stopped the House tonight. It is that love and commitment for them, and for their child, which has made us actually, as MPs, take a step back and really think about what’s really important. Often in this House, things go backwards and forwards and we argue about stuff, and they seem important at the particular time, but it’s moments like these when we actually step back and think, “Hey, you know what’s important? It’s that love between parents and children; it’s the love between that wider village, our whānau.” Those are the things that should be guiding this house on a daily basis.

So, Kyle, tēnei te mihi atu ki a koe, otirā ki a koe, Katherine, haere atu rā, haere atu rā, haere atu rā. Waiho mai tēnei me te aroha ki tō pēpi, ki a Paige hei maumaharatanga mōu ki tō whānau whānui.

[Kyle, I acknowledge you; and you, as well, Katherine, may you rest in peace. This is left with love for your baby, for Paige as a memento for you to your wider family.]

I would also like to acknowledge Katherine as well, acknowledge that her pēpi that she leaves behind here is her legacy of that love and that commitment.

When Louisa was sharing this bill around the House, I had to give it a second look and then a third look and then a fourth look, because you think these things would have been sorted out in the law. You would have thought that, you know, if you’re a biological parent that you wouldn’t have to go through the adoption process and the complications that many people have with surrogacy. I want to acknowledge the bill that will be coming to the House, and the kōrero from Tāmati Coffey just earlier about trying to smooth that stuff through a bit more, because some of these laws that we have, they’re archaic. They don’t actually fit the modern reality of what it is as a whānau, but also in many ways, they also don’t fit the reality of how whānau have always been, they have always been interconnected, they have always been fluid—it is about that love between parents and their children, but also the connections to that wider whānau and that village that some of the members have talked about before as well. Those are the things that really ground a child, those are the things that are really, really important. It forms that foundation about who that child is, and for them to know who they are connected to.

People have spoken earlier before about whakapapa, the importance of whakapapa, the importance of genealogical connection. How you are connected in this world to your parents, to your whānau, and to your wider village, and, of course, to wider society. These are the things that help a child orientate themselves in the way that they move through the world. So I see this bill as making us take pause as a Parliament, making us take a step back and to ask and question ourselves about why the law was like this in the first place and what we need to do to come together as parliamentarians to correct that and to fix that and to take a wider view across all of these types of laws which don’t, but should, have whānau at the centre, should have children at the centre—have that connection between parents and their children at the centre.

I’d also like to acknowledge te koi me te pukumahi [intelligent and hard-working] Louisa Wall. I’ve only been here for about a year and a bit, and I wanted to acknowledge the Manurewatanga of Louisa Wall. I met her in Manurewa a couple years back—I’m from Manurewa myself—and seeing the way that Louisa has been able to go out and talk to all the different parties to really advocate for an issue to really get into the detail. I know there was this engagement process with the officials to really work with them to figure out “Hey, this is a massive issue, how do we get through it?”, and Louisa went and did that. So I do want to acknowledge that.

So kāore i roa taku kōrero [I won’t speak for long]. I won’t be taking a long call on this, but once again I want to reiterate a mihi to Kyle, to Katherine, to Josh, Renee, and, of course, to baby Paige Harris for the day, for the night that they made Parliament stand still and pay attention. Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker.

Our next call is a remote call, and I just need to apologise to the deputy chair of the Governance and Administration Committee for ignoring her! Rachel Boyack.

Thank you for the opportunity to take a short call on the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill. I will keep these comments brief, as our goal tonight is to pass this legislation to ensure that Paige’s birth record may be corrected, enabling a new, accurate birth certificate to be provided to her as soon as possible.

The passing of this legislation will also give Kyle, Paige, and their friends and whānau their privacy back. I want to acknowledge Kyle and his friends and family, especially Josh, for their bravery and tenacity in raising this issue—first, in the public domain and then through the Parliament. In doing so, they have corrected a wrong and highlighted that our adoption and surrogacy laws are not fit for purpose.

It was upsetting that Kyle Harris had to go through two adoption approval processes, where his suitability to adopt his own biological daughter was assessed twice. Mr Harris completed these assessments with his wife and Paige’s mother, Katherine, before she passed away. After Paige was born, Kyle had to complete the entire assessment again while he was grieving his wife and raising his young daughter. He also had to jump through extra hoops as our adoption policies do not allow single men to adopt female children, even though Paige is Kyle Harris’ biological daughter.

The select committee was united in its view that our adoption and surrogacy laws need to be updated for modern times, and we look forward to Tāmati Coffey’s bill progressing through this House so that situations like this never happen to any other families in Aotearoa again. As you know, the select committee did make some minor technical amendments to replace the words “registration of birth” with “birth record” to more accurately reflect the official record that needs to be amended in order to produce an accurate, correct birth certificate.

It was a privilege to help guide this bill through the select committee, and now through the Parliament, for Paige, Kyle, and their family. Today, our Parliament speaks with one voice to pass this bill and right a wrong for Paige, Kyle, and Katherine. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is my pleasure to take a call on behalf of ACT in support of the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill in its second reading. First and foremost, I want to acknowledge Kyle Harris and his family. Not only have they suffered a terrible loss when Katherine passed away but they have had to overcome significant hurdles to get to this point. I spoke to Kyle this morning and, for him, the passing of this bill, as I’m sure members can imagine, is a huge relief. It’s the end of a two-year process that has been mentally exhausting, but, at long last, Paige’s birth certificate will have her mother’s details listed. I hoped—I really hoped—that the Harris family and close friends could have been here in the gallery today to witness the proceedings but, unfortunately, with the restrictions on visitors that isn’t possible. Nevertheless, this is a significant moment for the family and I wish them well for the future.

This private bill, although highly targeted, really puts the spotlight on the need to modernise our surrogacy laws and the laws surrounding adoption in New Zealand. I imagine that many people, including politicians, possibly didn’t fully appreciate just how clunky the system is. So I really thank Kyle for putting his story out there, for raising awareness, and to all of those who signed the petition and helped the bill along its way. The Adoption Act 1955 is obviously outdated and inadequate, especially given the advent of surrogacy and because it will, no doubt, be something that is used more in future. The fact that parents have to legally adopt their own biological children if born via surrogacy is just so out of step with common sense, and when a situation like this arises, it really emphasises the problem.

I thank Louisa Wall for her work on this bill and I thank the committee, officials, and other MPs for being on board with what needs to be done not only in this case but for wider reform as well on these issues. Finally, I once again wholeheartedly wish Kyle, Paige, and the whole Harris family and their close friends all the very best for the future. Thank you. I commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

In accordance with the determination of the Business Committee, this bill is set down for committee stage forthwith. I declare the House in committee for consideration of the Paige Harris Birth Registration Bill.

In Committee

Preamble