Debate has emerged as to whether euthanasia has a place in te ao Mori, with some saying it doesn't sit with the Mori worldview of death, and others saying whnau should have the choice.

A Taranaki urup. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

The End of Life Choice Bill, which would allow people to end their lives if they have six months or less before they die, passed its third reading last week, with the public set to vote at a referendum next year.

Maata Wharehoka, from Parihaka, has been reviving traditional methods of death and burial, with her whnau-run business, Kahu Whakatere Tppaku.

She said that based on the knowledge of her whnau, there was a form of euthanasia in pre-colonial Mori society, which involved speeding up death for people who had become wholly dependent on others for their needs.

"They didn't have food and water, and they were put outside and regardless of the weather, that's where they were placed, now, what I do know, if they didn't die immediately they were then put out into wharemate, and the wharemate was built for them to die in."

She supports legalisation of euthanasia because it would help the wairua of the person dying, leave the world faster with less pain and suffering.

"I believe that we should never have to endure the pain that some people have to go through, that we should be able to choose a time to pass over."

Ngti Porou anglican priest, Reverend Chris Huriwai, who opposed the bill, said euthanasia went against the Mori worldview on death.

"When I hear conversations and krero around euthanasia, straight away my mind flicks to how we as Mori frame our tangihanga rituals, how we understand death, and fundamentally this idea of death as something that is unwanted, something that is an aitua or an accident or something unfortunate, and I wonder how that impacts on our tikanga when we start to express more agency in that space.

"So if a whnau or a person elects for that to take place, then how do we reconcile that with our acceptable practice and tikanga around tangihanga as it stands now."

The End of Life Choice Bill passed its third in Parliament last week and puts the issue to a referendum next year. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas

He said that from what he had learned from the tohunga Papa Amster Reedy, euthanasia was foreign to the tikanga of Tairwhiti, but he said this might not necessarily be the case for Mori across the country.

"I think it's important we don't just call it all tikanga Mori, because tikanga Mori doesn't exist."

"We're diverse, we're fluid, we're not a homogenous group of people, so those conversations need to happen on levels smaller than tribal levels, so hap conversations need to happen and whnau conversations need to happen around what our accepted tikanga is."

Dame Iritana Twhiwhirangi agreed there was no one tikanga, and she supported the right for whnau to make a decision for themselves.

"Our people, from what I remember, made the decision together. They didn't rely on outside determinations for them and together that was their tikanga, that's what they focused on, they made their decisions and I support that."

New Zealand Nurses Organisation kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said Mori nurses were polarised on the issue, but agree that it should be up to whnau Mori.

Mori nurses were looking to set up hui at different marae after Christmas, where Mori could discuss what legalisation of euthanasia would mean for them and their whnau, similar to consultation that occured around changes to the Coronial Act.

Whangarei MP Shane Reti said during the third reading debate that he opposed the bill, both as as a doctor and a Mori.

Tmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare supported the bill Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

He singled out many of the Mori Labour MPs who supported the bill, asking them what their "Mori heart' was saying.

Tmaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare responded by saying that historically, Mori had ways of speeding up the process of death if a disease or sickness was incurable.

He said that to him, tikanga is mana motuhake - Mori being to make the decision which is right for them.

MP for Te Tai Hauuru Adrian Rurawhe said that the overwhelming majority of people in his electorate told him at eight public hui they did not want this bill.

"We talk about kaupapa Mori, terms that just roll of our tongue - manaakitanga, rangatiratanga, aroha - it even frames our international identity but will it frame what we want for our families in this bill, I say it will not, because it is fundamentally opposed to those kaupapa."

List MP Willie Jackson told Parliament that three high-profile Mori leaders, he had spoken with said "they were tired of hearing this was a violation of our culture".

"All were unanimous that in their view tikanga evolves, tikanga changes and there is no one tikanga," he said.

Go here to see the original:

Is there tikanga around euthanasia? - RNZ