MEDIA RELEASE
3 February 2009

Marriage Steady, Civil Unions Ignored

Family First NZ says that the latest statistics on marriage and civil unions show that while the marriage rate has been reasonably consistent over the past decade, the demand for civil unions is negligible.

“The civil unions legislation has continued to be a white elephant,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ, “despite the claims by the previous government that it would strengthen human rights and support the choices of apparently 300,000 people who were not married but lived in stable relationships.”

Over the past 3 years, civil unions have been less than 2% of the rate of marriage, and 80% of the civil unions have been same-sex relationships.

“The civil union legislation was presented as a human right issue, but NZ’ers didn’t feel discriminated against and they didn’t have a problem with the religious connotations of marriage, which are not compulsory anyway.”

“The huge amount of energy spent on trying to concoct a need for civil unions would have been better spent on developing policies which promote, encourage and strengthen marriage, and to minimise the likelihood of divorce, and thereby provide the best and safest environment for children to be raised.”

“According to the latest Census, more than 2/3’rds of NZ’ers in a partnership have chosen marriage.”

“Marriage is an important social good with a smorgasbord of positive outcomes for children and adults alike. Governments should encourage and support what works.”

ENDS

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