Tuesday, 30 November 2004

Admission extracted from Benson-Pope on Civil Union Bill

United Future's Gordon Copeland today extracted a grudging admission from Associate Justice Minister David Benson-Pope in Parliament that the Civil Union Bill won't do the things he said last week that it would do.

"And now that he's admitted that the Civil Union Bill itself offers no additional legal protection to couples, he can contribute to a more accurate and factual debate on this issue," Mr Copeland said.

"Any new rights that come to couples will be from the accompanying legislation, the Relationships (Statutory References) Bill, which will be debated and voted on separately."

Under questioning, Mr Benson-Pope was also forced to admit that he had misrepresented United Future's position on the Civil Union Bill, in stating that it was not a conscience issue for the party.

Mr Copeland also called on the Government to back a referendum on this issue because of public concerns that Labour MPs "may be arm-twisted to vote for the legislation because it appears in their election manifesto".

Mr Copeland later said that under the Relationships Bill, de facto couples would have the same rights as civil union partners, so it's not necessary to have a civil union to get greater legal protection in the situation where one partner dies - a particular case argued by Mr Benson-Pope.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>