Adams Paul: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Adams Paul: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17470] 
PAUL ADAMS (United Future) 
: 
 In speaking briefly on this bill I just pick up on two terms that have come through a lot in correspondence to me and in what I have heard in the Chamber tonight. The first is the word “love” and the second is the phrase “human right”. Let us deal with the issue of love. It is a basic human need. Everybody needs to be loved by somebody. Sadly I believe of late we in this nation have done many things but we have failed to appreciate love and to teach people how to love. I assure members that love is not a sexual act. Love is a commitment of one to the other. 
With this I want to work on the “kiss” principle—“keep it simple stupid”—which I have always worked on. Dealing with human rights only two types of humans are born—that is male and female. I have yet to read in the paper that somebody announces the birth of a little homosexual boy or lesbian girl. I have yet to read a scientific report that the remains of a person have been found that are anything other than those of either a male or a female. In my opinion those are the only two types there are. 
From there we go to choices of lifestyle. I know many people in the gay and lesbian community many who have been gay or lesbian and many who have come out of being gay or lesbian. To me if they can choose to go into it and choose to come out of it it has to be a choice. I believe as has been touched on— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but the time has come for the dinner break. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
PAUL ADAMS 
: Much has also been said in this debate about the failure of marriage and sadly to a certain extent a lot of what has been said is correct. But marriages have to be built and I believe that a Government has the responsibility to help the nation build great marriages. We had a problem earlier this year with leaking buildings. Houses also need to be built and we discovered that there were challenges in the way the houses were being built. The question I ask this evening is did we loosen the regulations concerning the building of houses or did we tighten the regulations with regard to building houses to rectify the problem? The answer is that we tightened the regulations. Much concern has been stated about this bill further eroding marriage and it does that because if we begin to promote a multitude of relationships then we are not concentrating on a preferred model that is best for the nation as a whole. 
I think that a lot of the discussion is around the right of an individual but as important as individuals are we also need to see what our responsibility is for bringing the generations through as a nation. When we have young children children like my grandchildren I have great concerns that they will be taught that alternative lifestyles are the norm. At the beginning of this speech prior to the dinner break I said that as far as I am concerned there are only two types of people—male and female. I believe that every child coming up in this nation deserves to have input from both sexes. I believe that it makes a powerful difference in the lives of children if they see the firm hand of discipline of a father—and sadly that has not been built to the extent that it should have been—and likewise they should also have the loving arms of a mother. I believe that total balance is needed as young children are brought up to build really effective families in this country. 
I agree that a marriage licence in itself will never build a strong marriage. A strong marriage is built only if there is a commitment one to the other and if one learns to have patience kindness and tolerance towards the other partner. So I am certainly convinced that this bill is nothing else but gay marriage under a disguise. I also believe that the ability to take it to a public referendum should be passed in this Parliament. I have not seen such a concern come through so strongly in New Zealand for a long time and I believe that in many ways the nation is divided over this issue. I do not like that because I do not want to divide a nation; I want a united nation.