During the many times I've spoken in this House on COVID-19 orders and bills, I expressed concerns that people who died of COVID seemed to be more important than people who died for any other reason. There's still daily reporting in the national news, but only for COVID people, not for cancer, not for rare diseases, not for family violence, and not for suicide. In the year ended December 2020, there were 32,613 deaths in this country, an average of over 89 people every single day. In 2021, 34,932 more, an average of 96 people every day. A few made the news, but most went unremarked, mourned by their family and friends but not the nation. Some of those deaths were because the treatment they needed was not available in this country or not funded by Pharmac. Some were because their treatment was delayed and appointments were missed to make way for COVID, because of the chronic shortage of nurses and specialist healthcare professionals. Some were because they lived rurally or had disabilities that meant that healthcare was not accessible for them. We can do better, and we absolutely should, because not dying is a very low bar in developed countries such as ours. Many people would just like to live without pain, with access to the diagnosis, healthcare, and medication they need.