Tuesday, 14 September, 2004

Smith: 95 percent of submitters oppose Civil Unions

New Zealanders have given an overwhelming thumbs down to the Civil Unions Bill with more than 95 percent of submissions opposing the legislation, United Future MP Murray Smith revealed today.

In Parliament today, Tim Barnett, chairman of the Justice and Electoral Committee which is hearing submissions on the Bill, confirmed that the committee had received 6170 submissions.

Mr Smith, a member of the committee, said that 5892 (95.5%) of those submissions opposed the Bill, with the vast majority also opposing the accompanying Relationships (Statutory References) Bill as well.

New Zealand has spoken, Mr Smith said, and the message to politicians was very clear: We do not want these bills passed.

The key theme of the submissions was that marriage between a man and a woman was a fundamental institution in New Zealand society which needed to be protected and nurtured but that the Bill undermined marriage and would significantly weaken our society.

United Future was the only party in Parliament to have all its members oppose the Civil Unions Bill at its first reading.

ENDS

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