Lee Melissa: Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 07 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12463. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National):Ahnnyung ha seyo and good afternoon Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise to speak on the Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill. I start by congratulating Louisa Wall on how lucky she is to have had two bills drawn in the ballot when some of us have had bills in there for years and years and years. Lucky you. Congratulations.What this particular bill is essentially seeking is to amend the birth certificate of MissRowen Sullivan and to require the Registrar-General of Births Deaths and Marriagesto record the details of her birth mother on her post-adoptive birth entry. The preamble of the bill explains the circumstances in which Miss Sullivan seeks to record both her birth mother Diane Sullivan and her mother’s same-sex partner Doreen Shields as her parents on the birth certificate as they are the only parents she has ever known. I take this opportunity to send my sincere condolences to Miss Sullivan and Miss Shields on the passing of Diane Sullivan who died due to cancer.It is a sad story. We have heard from different members in the House. It is actually very poignant. If Diane and Doreen were able to have married they would have been able to adoptRowen but Diane died before the marriage amendment legislation was passed leaving Doreen to act as an additional guardian toRowen but that expired whenRowen turned 18—2 years ago. How sad that is. If it happened now since the bill has passed perhaps she might have been able to adopt her.It is uncertain why MissRowen Sullivan is seeking to have this change or the practical legal effect Miss Sullivan is seeking by getting this bill passed through Parliament aside from getting a birth certificate for her own personal records with both Diane’s and Doreen’s names on it. I understand why and I actually empathise with it but I am a little bit cautious as to what other changes or effects this bill’s passing might have on other cases. Does this bill set a precedent for people wanting to make changes on their birth certificate? For example I know of many people whose recorded birth dates are different from their real birth dates maybe because with the difference between the lunar calendar versus the Gregorian calendar the date changes. But once the date is written on an official record people are stuck with that date that is actually incorrect every year that the year rolls round. Some records have been destroyed as a result of war or fire and their birth dates are recorded wrong. And some like me have a completely different date caused by a mistake or lapse in memory.I never really found out why my birth date was wrong but according to my birth certificate I was born in the Year of the Snake—without giving the year so that everybody would know how old I am—but my real birth date is in the Year of the Fire Horse. The difference is only a few months or a couple of weeks but it really makes a huge difference because it is a difference of a year. I am a year older than I really am—I know I do not look it Jonathan. I do not know whether it was because women born in the Year of the Fire Horse are meant to be career orientated and not housebound or maybe it was that mywhānau elders my grandfather actually wanted me to marry and have children. He did not want me to be this work-focused woman. Or maybe it was because I was a sickly child and in and out of hospital and they wanted to make sure that I was viable before they actually registered me. Whatever actually happened I was registered well after I was actually born and by the time they got to register me I got the wrong birth date. And it is a different month too so when people count the star signs I am one star sign but in reality I am another. So when people sort of think “Oh she’s an Aquarius.” or “She’s a Sagittarius.” or “She’s a Leo.” they sort of judge people according to their birth date. I will just keep you guessing as to which is the real one.But the end result regardless of what the reason was is that I was registered incorrectly and I will for ever be a year older than I really am. Does this bill actually mean that I can finally change the recorded birth date to reflect the real birth date? Does that mean that I will become a year younger? I do not know. Should I be allowed to? Whether I want to is another matter. I probably want to be a year younger. On the other hand I can understand that this may be an emotive issue for Miss Sullivan and although the intention of this bill in itself is admirable which is to remember her birth mother and her desire to acknowledge her on her birth certificate there might be other unintended consequences and they might not be immediately apparent. That is the reason I believe that the bill needs to be scrutinised. This bill needs to be investigated tosee whether there is any mischief in it and it needs to be opened up to the public for submissions. That is the reason I support it going to the Government Administration Committee.