Kedgley Sue: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Kedgley Sue: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:622;Page:17590] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 I have listened very closely to the arguments put forward by the opposition. I have the Catholic bishops’ statement. I have it here. I have read it very closely. The arguments of the opposition and the bishops seem to boil down to three basic viewpoints: firstly that the passage of this legislation—the recognition of civil unions—will erode the special and unique position of marriage and the family in our society; secondly that it will create a slippery slope that will undermine our social and moral values and lead to social decay in our society; and thirdly that it will undermine the well-being and stability of society. 
I believe that as legislators we have an obligation to test these claims to see whether they have a rational basis or are just irrational fears. New Zealand is in the fortunate position of being able to look at other societies that have introduced registered same-sex partnerships. That has been the law in Sweden for 20 years in Denmark for 15 years and in Norway since 1993. If the arguments of the opponents are correct then it is inevitable that we would see in those societies evidence of the undermining of the stability of society evidence of the erosion of the special and unique position of marriage and the family and evidence of social decay. The statistics show that marriage far from being eroded and undermined has actually remained stable in those societies. Indeed in places like Denmark the number of marriages has gone up by a small amount. In 1990 it was 6.1 marriages per 1000 residents. Now it is 6.8 marriages per 1000 residents. So the statistics are very clear: there has been no erosion of the institution of marriage in those societies and no evidence of social and moral decay. Keith Locke has just visited Sweden. He reported to us that very thankfully he was not able to see any evidence of social or moral decay. [ 
Interruption 
] He said Sweden is a robust—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member. I remind members on the cross benches of the convention that they do not interject from there because it affects the microphone. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: Thank you for your protection Mr Chair. Sweden is a robust healthy stable tolerant and inclusive democracy. It is the sort of society that New Zealand should be seeking to emulate. The same can be said of Denmark a society of approximately 4 million people. It is a role model for us in terms of social justice tolerance and inclusiveness. 
I have spoken not only to Keith Locke but to other people who have relatives in or have visited Denmark and Norway and Sweden in particular over recent years. They all say that there is not one shred of evidence in those societies that any of the claims made by the opponents of this bill are a reality. So I challenge the opponents of this bill to produce some shred of evidence tonight for their claims that there has been an undermining of the special and unique position of marriage and the family in any one of those three societies or a decline and undermining of social and moral standards or an erosion of well-being and stability. I challenge other speakers tonight to produce one shred of evidence. The truth is that there is no evidence and that leads us to believe that our community has irrational fears about this bill but those fears have no rational basis. If any member can produce some evidence I for one will listen with great interest and respect.