Hutchison Paul: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17482] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 Thank you Madam Chairperson for the opportunity to speak on this very important— 
Larry Baldock 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chairperson. I am sorry to interrupt the member but I point out that many members have had only one call on this part and it was to be a wide-ranging and exhaustive debate. I do hope we are not going to see too many more calls for closure before we have all had a chance to have at least two calls on such an important bill. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: That is not a point of order. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Thank you Madam Chairperson for the opportunity to speak on this very important and somewhat controversial Civil Union Bill Part 1. Like most of my colleagues on either side of the Chamber I have been lobbied very heavily from both sides of the argument. It has been of huge interest to me that an overwhelming majority of constituents in my electorate have asked me to oppose the bill. Nevertheless I have had some very sincere and somewhat compellingly thought-out arguments from those who support it. But I must say that at the end of the day for me this is all about what one should hope for in the ideal world and I would have thought that liberal philosophy would suggest as much freedom as possible provided it does no harm. 
Surely one of the things that we should treasure greatly in this democratic country of ours is the freedoms we do enjoy. I think it was a couple of days ago that Nandor Tanczos said that the principle is utterly simple: it is about whether people should have equal civil rights. I do not think there are many who disagree with that but on balance to me why should the State be involved with the framework of designing and being involved in the celebration of a personal relationship? Surely we have in this country a strong tradition of supporting and recognising common law and surely it is a wonderful freedom for individuals and couples throughout this country whether heterosexual same sex or transgender to be able to design the framework of the relationship that suits them best and to be able to celebrate it in the way they would like. 
It was interesting to me to hear Tim Barnett talking about how important it is to him to be able to celebrate the fact that the State confer a framework that is available to him that is available to everybody else. But surely the greater freedom is for him to be able to design the sort of framework that actually suits him. We do have a common law tradition in New Zealand. So why should one in the ultimately ideal world have the State involved? That is one of the things I find personally very very hard to understand. 
 When we talk about this question of celebrating a same-sex relationship under a civil union surely we also should be talking about celebrating the fact that there is basic biological difference between men and women. Surely none us should deny the very fact that there are basic biological different functions— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: How do you know that? 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: —and I as a gynaecologist know that more than anyone else I am sure! However these very biological facts hopefully will be celebrated by us all. Similarly I would join Tim Barnett in welcoming the fact that he should be able to celebrate in whichever way he deems best and appropriate for him in the relationship that he has designed. I think that is a wonderful freedom that we have in this country. Why do we need this extra State framework around it when we have a strong tradition of common law in New Zealand? 
Bill English made the point a little while ago that Richard Worth my colleague in the last few weeks or maybe the last few days has designed an amendment in terms of a civil relationship bill that I think is far superior to and far more inclusive than the Civil Union Bill that has taken so long for this Government to bring up to the Parliament.