Pettis Jill: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Pettis Jill: Civil Union Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17469] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call on this bill. There has been much debate this afternoon about how the bill will undermine the state of marriage. I have to say that in my opinion it is the partners in a marriage who undermine the marriage not the Government. Lack of respect for each other undermines the marriage and when respect flies out of the window love usually follows. People have said to me over recent weeks and particularly over recent days: “Please don’t vote for the bill.” When I question them patiently they cannot actually say why they are opposed to the bill. Some very strange reasons come out as to why they believe I should not vote for it. Some of these reasons are quite bizarre. Just recently a gentleman said that people were homosexual because a curse had been put on their family. He did not like the Masons either because they did things in secret too. I thought that was a bit of a slur against the Masons who do a very good job in society. 
People say that homosexuality is an abomination. They love the word “abomination”. A lot of things in life are an abomination. One thing that I find an absolute abomination is child sex tours to Thailand. These are mostly perpetrated by heterosexual men. Nobody has ever written to me about that issue in the whole time I have been a member of Parliament but I find it one of the most disgusting practices on earth whereby terribly poor children are exploited in the most awful way. Those children are truly victims. In the Civil Union Bill there are no victims. That is why this bill will assist so many people in our society both heterosexual and homosexual. 
In our boring old family we get married. My husband and I have been married for more than 30 years and in October this year we were proud parents at the celebration of our son’s wedding. As I said earlier marriages have to be worked at. I did not ask the Government to raise my children and it is not the Government’s responsibility to mind my marriage. It is the partners in the marriage whose responsibility it is to do that. With this legislation when it is passed—and I am confident it will be and I will vote for it—people have to be mindful of the fact that their relationships are their responsibility. 
A member from the other side of the Chamber said earlier that members of Parliament do not have the freedom to vote how they want to if they are constituency MPs—that is if they represent an electorate. I consult my electorate on a whole range of issues. We have had conscience votes recently about the drinking age and about euthanasia—I did not vote to lower the drinking age and I did not vote in favour of euthanasia—but we vote on all manner of important issues every day of the week. People vote for us and they expect us to get on with it. I have not had one constituent write to tell me how to vote on the Railways Bill the Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill the Education Amendment Bill or the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill which is on the Order Paper before Parliament at the moment. They just expect me to get on with it and to vote wisely and in an informed way. 
I suggest that most members of Parliament are well informed about this bill. We are well equipped to vote and most of us will vote according to our conscience and the knowledge that we have gained through reading the bill and sitting on select committees. Anybody who says this bill has been rushed is saying so because he or she has just picked up the paper in the last 2 weeks. This bill has been around for a very very long time. I also want to say that I do not support a referendum. A referendum is in my opinion a cop-out. If members are not brave enough to vote on something they should change their job.