Hague Kevin: Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHague Kevin: Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16114. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KEVIN HAGUE (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a genuine pleasure to take a call in this debate on the Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill. Earlier this year I had the great privilege of being able to participate in the Government Administration Committee’s consideration of the marriage equality bill and it was fantastic to work with a group of people who were committed to getting great outcomes. Today to again participate in a debate that is characterised by warm generous and kind speeches from members of that committee is a great experience. I want to thank members of the committee—in particular Ruth Dyson as the chair of that committee—and the officials who worked with the committee. I hear they did a fantastic job. I did not get the chance to experience their work this time around. In particular I want to say thanks and congratulations to my colleague and friend Louisa Wall. It is twice over a pretty short space of time that an important human rights bill has come to this House under Louisa’s name.I am one of several members of this House who is in a same-sex relationship and has children and I am sure that those of us in that situation can all think about how it would be for us in our situation if we were plunged into this nightmare scenario thatRowen Sullivan and her parents have been through. Human rights is an area that is frequently debated in this House. Typically when we talk about human rights we talk about the rights of collectives of large groups of people and the denial of human rights to a whole ethnicity to a whole gender or to a whole sexual orientation. I think that is probably the most frequent use of the idea of human rights in this House but really that relates to just one of those human rights and that is the right to freedom from discrimination.When Eleanor Roosevelt who was perhaps the most motivating force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights explained the idea of universal human rights this is what she said: “Where after all do universal human rights begin? In small places close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man woman and child seeks equal justice equal opportunityequal dignity without discrimination.” This Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill is about human rights. It is about the human rights of one person—the right of that person to acknowledge their own identity and to have their parents respected by law as being their parents. I have not dealt with very many private bills in this House but I cannot think of another situation where a private bill is more appropriate.Congratulations to Louisa Wall and to the Government Administration Committee. Congratulations toRowen Sullivan to Doreen and also to Diane. Thank you.