Wagner Nicky: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: Sullivan Birth Registration Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17087. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central):I too would like to support the Sullivan Birth Registration Bill at its third reading. As we have heard it is a private bill supported by Labour MP Louisa Wall and it is linked to her Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 because since the passing of that bill same-sex couples are able to marry and therefore will be able to apply jointly to adopt children. If Rowen Sullivan’s birth mother had been able to marry her long-term partner Doreen Shields this situation would never have arisen. The purpose of the bill as we have been discussing is to require the Registrar-General of Births Deaths and Marriages in New Zealand to record the details of Rowen Sullivan’s deceased mother on her post-adoptive birth registration entry.The background to this bill is important because it sheds light on the rules that made the documentation of one’s life and relationships difficult for a same-sex partnership before our legislative changes. The background was that Rowen Helen Louise Sullivan was born on 23 February 1993 in England to a same-sex couple: Diane Sullivan a British citizen and New Zealander Doreen Margaret Shields. Only Diane Sullivan’s name as the birth parent was recorded on Rowen Sullivan’s birth certificate. In November 1999 the family moved to New Zealand and Rowen and Diane Sullivan gained permanent residence on family grounds. At that time the law did not allow Diane and Doreen to marry or to jointly adopt Rowen. Diane Sullivan died in 2010 and Rowen was formally adopted by Doreen in January 2013. However this required the removal of Diane Sullivan’s name from Rowen’s post-adoption birth record—something of course that Rowen did not want to do. Therefore the purpose of this bill is to add Diane Sullivan’s details to the record so that the names of both Diane Sullivan and Doreen Shields can be included on Rowen Sullivan’s New Zealand post-adoption birth certificate and both Rowen’s parents can be acknowledged.I am very pleased that Parliament was able to deal with this issue and I note that Chris Auchinvole was talking about it being a complex issue but I am very pleased that it could deal with it because I understand completely why Rowen would want to have both her parents listed on her birth certificate. The bill does not create a precedent for other individuals seeking to change their registered birth record because since 2005 New Zealand law has allowed both same-sex parents of New Zealand - born children conceived through assisted human reproduction technology procedures to be named on a child’s birth record. That change was made retrospective so that pre-2005 New Zealand birth registration records can be amended on application at any time to include both same-sex parents’ details.Further the law already contains rules for changing a birth record in other circumstances including but not limited to situations where a paternity order is obtained where an individual changes her or his name by statutory declaration or where an individual undergoes gender reassignment. So this bill applies to only Rowen Sullivan’s unique situation which has itself arisen from a unique combination of circumstances including her birth overseas following an assisted human reproduction procedure that meant that her birth was not registered in New Zealand.The key consideration is that since 19 August 2013 married same-sex couples can adopt jointly. If the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act had been in place before Diane Sullivan died the train of events giving rise to this bill could have been avoided. So in summary this is a good bill and it is very pleasing that it will be passed unanimously in this House. I think it illustrates two things: firstly the importance that Parliament places on families and also the empathy that parliamentarians have had for Rowen’s situation. We all believe in happy families and we want to see that reflected in our documentation. I commend this bill to the House.