Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said changes should not be made without further consultation with Māori. Photo / File
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said changes should not be made without further consultation with Māori. Photo / File
A Hawke's Bay iwi leader is urging further consultation with Māori after 65.2 per cent voted in support of the End of Life Choice Act.
A total of 815,829 (33.8 per cent) voted against it, while 25,073 (1 per cent) were informal votes.
The act will give people with aterminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying. Iwi leaders expect to be calling for changes in euthanasia legislation before it becomes law in the wake of the passing of the referendum.
Hawke's Bay leader and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana said changes should not be made without further consultation with Māori.
Tomoana said he believed the vote had come "too early" and the subject needs "further discussion".
"Māori are dying too young, we are not ready to die," he said, imploring his people and the rest of the nation to help increase Māori longevity.
Labour MP Meka Whaitiri says while she was disappointed in the result, ensuring palliative care patients are aware of their options is vital. Photo / File
Labour MP Meka Whaitiri shared similar concerns, stating: "Māori don't live as long as non-Māori anyway."
Whaitiri said while she was disappointed in the result, ensuring palliative care patients are aware of their options is vital.
"In hindsight, we never had the platform to talk about the palliative care sector, which is underfunded as it is, given that one of the core foundations of the act was people dying in dignity," she said.
"That industry hasn't had the investment to ensure they know that taking their own life isn't their only option. That's one regret - myself and 120-odd MPs not pushing harder discussion on palliative care.
"I obviously didn't vote for it, but I accept that New Zealand has voted for it," she added.
In November 2019, Whaitiri and National Party member Chris Penk brought representatives from the hospice and palliative care sectors to the Beehive to make a last-minute plea against the bill.
Whaitiri voted "no" to David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill in 2019, but despite Whaitiri's attempts, the bill passed its third reading by 69 votes to 51.
"I'm not surprised. Hats off to the sponsor of the legislation, David Seymour," she said.
Act leader Seymour said New Zealand would be "a kinder, more compassionate, more humane society" as a result.
It will be about a year before terminal patients can request assisted dying once the act is passed.
Last year, leaders from across the country's religious spectrum penned a letter to MPs in a desperate final bid to prevent the bill being passed.
Former Hawke's Bay reverend Craig Kilgour said he witnessed the "two loves of my life" suffer a "prolonged and unnecessary" death. Photo / Warren Buckland
But even though his own denomination - Presbyterian - expressed concerns about the bill at the time, former Hawke's Bay reverend Craig Kilgour said everyone deserves the "right to die with dignity", after losing two wives to cancer.
Kilgour, a former minister at St Columba's Presbyterian Church in Havelock North, said he witnessed the "two loves of my life" suffer a "prolonged and unnecessary" death.
The 77-year-old said his views were strengthened after his nephew, aged 47, ended his life after a five-year battle with cancer in Canada.
Euthanasia became legal in Canada in June 2016.
Kilgour said his faith encourages empathy for those suffering.
"It was a grassroots movement that has finally been heard," he said. "All the churches were opposed. It's sad that churches were unable to soften their view on it.
"As a Christian minister, the strong themes of my faith have always been compassion, justice and mercy.
"During my 36 years of ministry, I spent a lot of time dealing with dying, death, funerals and grieving and regularly visited parishioners in hospital, hospices and rest homes," he added.
The final results, which include an estimated 480,000 special and overseas votes, will be released on Friday, November 6.
