Jones Dail: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Jones Dail: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:622;Page:17585] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 I look forward to finding out what some of the Labour Government members who were referred to by the Hon Brian Donnelly will be doing on this bill and what their attitude will be to a referendum provision. A referendum is an important part of New Zealand First policy. It is a policy that one can say is direct democracy with a conscience vote attached to it. A referendum allows the people of New Zealand to express their own consciences on an issue. That conscience vote is not limited solely to members of Parliament. It is a conscience vote that allows all the people of New Zealand to say whether they support a particular issue. I was surprised I suppose—but knowing the Swiss I should not have been—that the Swiss voted against a reduction in taxes. I understand that they took the view that things like roading and suchlike must come first before taxes are reduced and that is the sort of thing one would expect from a responsible society. Just as the people of Switzerland are responsible I am sure that the people of New Zealand would be responsible too in a referendum. 
I ask the Labour Government why it does not allow this issue to go to a referendum. There has been a lot of criticism of the Republicans from the trendy lefty liberals of New Zealand and of the world—all those people who would have liked to see the Democrat candidate become the President of the United States. But who gave the people of the United States the opportunity to vote on issues in a referendum at the last United States general election? It was the Republicans. The Republicans had issues such as this on the voting paper at the last election. The Republicans the so-called right-wing conservative off-this-planet rednecked type of people gave the people of the United States the opportunity to vote on whether gay marriages should be legal. After the Republicans did that the people of the United States spoke and their answer was given. Whatever the answer was is irrelevant; the fact is that the United States had a referendum. If all the trendy lefties who have their fun from abusing the Republicans want to continue to do so they should at least give credit to the Republicans for having a referendum and follow the Republicans in having one. 
But no it seems that this Labour Government does not want to support a referendum although I have yet to hear from the members of the Labour Government who have been valiant and brave and who have exercised their consciences—I should not use the words “crossed the floor”—and voted from time to time against this bill. Full credit goes to them all—to the likes of John Tamihere and Clayton Cosgrove for example not to mention another member or two who may be in the Chamber at this present time. 
It is extremely important that the people of New Zealand be given the opportunity to vote in a referendum. We can rant and rave about whether this bill is a gay marriage bill a close-to-gay marriage bill or is not a gay marriage bill—whatever it may be. However I am sure that if a properly run referendum was held—and New Zealand First has a policy of direct democracy—by the time we had that referendum the people of New Zealand would be fully informed as to what they were voting for. Of course the best time to have it and the most economic time to have it would be at a general election. It is not unusual to have a referendum at a general election. The one that most of us who were having their first drink illegally in the 1960s will remember was at the 1967 general election when the drinking hours were extended from 6 o’clock. It was like when President Kennedy was killed—where one was in 1967 when the referendum took place for the extension of the drinking hours from 6 p.m. to 10 o’clock and to 11 o’clock on Saturdays. What a bold move that was. Yet that was put to a referendum and New Zealanders made a decision. 
Pansy Wong 
: 9 October 1967. 
DAIL JONES 
: I am surprised Pansy Wong can remember that because I am sure that she was not even born then.