The group aims to promote better understanding among politicians about palliative care that is available in New Zealand.

The group is has been established in partnership with Hospice New Zealand, and is modelled on similar international groups such as the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well.

Maggie Barry, North Shore Member of Parliament, said, “I intend this to be a group that can work constructively, across party lines to focus on improving the quality of life for those with life-limiting conditions.“ In 1998 Maggie Barry chaired a working party into 'Care of people who are dying' and is a past patron of Mary Potter Hospice and Hospice New Zealand.

Baroness Finlay of Llanduff, who chairs the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well, will be welcomed at the inaugural meeting of the group. Baroness Finlay is an independent Cross-bench member of the British House of Lords, a professor of palliative medicine and a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine.