Royal Succession Bill Sent To Select Committee
The Royal Succession Bill has been sent to
select committee for consideration.
The bill ensures Royal
succession is not dependent on a person’s sex, and so
allows an older daughter to precede a younger son in the
line of succession.
It also allows the British king or
queen to marry a Roman Catholic and says not every
descendant of King George II needs the permission of their
sovereign to marry.
As the bill says “There are likely
hundreds of descendants of King George II who were, or are,
unaware of the marriage consent requirements of the Royal
Marriages Act 1772 and whose marriages are technically
invalid.’’
Britain needs Commonwealth countries to
pass the law in order for the new rules to come into
force.
Justice Minister Judith Collins said the bill was necessary in order to modernise the laws of succession
Andrew Little said the Bill was dealing with an anachronism and people would wonder why the House was sitting under Urgency to consider the issue of gender neutrality in the British succession to the throne.
Labour would support the bill because it would not to offend the monarch of Britain, but there were other more pressing issues than dealing with this issue and the ancient prejudice against Catholics in another country.
Little said if anything the Bill should raise debate on New Zealand’s links to the monarchy.
The bill was referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee by 104 with the Greens and Mana (15 votes) abstaining.
Earlier the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill completed its second reading on voice vote.
MPs began the first reading of the Copyright (Parallel Importation of Films) Amendment Bill,
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