“This evening Kiwis are one step closer and only one step away from welcoming the death penalty sending David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill through to select committee stage, with it passing its second reading by a vote of 70 – 51.”

said Hannah Tamaki, Leader of Coalition New Zealand.

“I describe this as the death penalty; a government-sanctioned practice where a person is killed by the state as a punishment for a crime. The crime in this case is for living by drawing the breath of life, one breath after the other, and the sentence for this will be known as an execution.”

“The death penalty was abolished in 1961 strongly due to the argument that one innocent life mistakenly taken, would be one too many. How long before it's even noticed that the first innocent life has been extinguished, with the overwhelming majority of coercion going unreported.”

“Congratulations David Seymour, tonight you convinced enough of your colleagues in Parliament to support your poorly drafted piece of legislation that serves as a slap in the face and an increasingly lethal threat to our country's most vulnerable communities.”

“This normalises suicide in a time when New Zealand represents the highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD."

"Now we are advertising to kiwis who are feeling down, alone and depressed, or maybe you feel as though you’ve become a burden, that you should talk to one of your local medical professionals and find out if assisted suicide is right for you. Supported by your local elected Member of Parliament.”

“When at least 10% of our elderly are subjected to some form of abuse with 76% of those offenders being family members and almost half of those offenders living under the same roof as their victim, and when one week ago police revealed in 2018 they attended 23,423 attempted suicides, our statistics prove already, that our embarrassing and shameful track record proves already the fatal errors, misuse, and deviant way in which this sort of legislation will be used."

“Our politicians are normalising the culture of death surrounding our nation.”

“I am saddened for our medical professionals, that a majority of our elected representatives felt they knew better than you did when it came to preserving human life and caring for those ill and unwell. I am angry at our politicians that they chose to make you collaborators in the deaths of your patients instead of making them better and well, or comfortable in their final days surrounded by loved ones."

"Coalition New Zealand stand with the 1,000 Doctors, the World Medical Association and the New Zealand Medical Association in being vehemently opposed to what took place tonight in our highest court of law."

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice... More