Turei Metiria: Relationships (Statutory References) Bill — First Reading 
Turei Metiria: Relationships (Statutory References) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:13957] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Relationships (Statutory References) Bill is the operational companion to the Civil Union Bill. It amends the existing law to ensure that the law applies equally to couples whether married or in a civil union whether heterosexual or homosexual. The Greens are very pleased to support this bill just as we did the Civil Union Bill. Green Party policy states that gay lesbian and heterosexual partnerships are equally entitled to respect and support. Legal partnership arrangements and rights should therefore be extended to same-sex couples. 
New Zealanders with a sexual orientation or gender identity different from that of the majority include people who identify as lesbian gay bisexual queer transgender inter-sexed takatapui and fa’afafine. Those New Zealanders are a significant group in our society that has been marginalised through legislative barriers institutional discrimination and casual prejudice. Some research suggests that those groups together constitute anything between 4 and 10 percent of the total New Zealand population. In the 2001 census over 10000 New Zealanders identified themselves as being part of a same-sex couple. 
The provisions in this bill will eliminate unjust legislative barriers that cause unnecessary harm to members of our community. For example the Burial and Cremation Act requires that only close members of the family—for example a husband and a wife—may be buried together. No contractual arrangements or personal agreements between same-sex or de facto couples can override the legislation. For no good reason this legislative anomaly causes extraordinary hardship to citizens of this country in times of crisis. 
Another example is where a next of kin is needed to make serious and sometimes lifesaving decisions when significant medical issues arise. Many gay and lesbian people and couples have expressed their utter frustration and despair that their life partners are legally unable to make those serious decisions for them when they themselves are unable to. There is absolutely no justification for this legislative barrier that causes so much harm to people. The Greens are also aware that other members of the community who would want those next-of-kin decisions made by people other than their close family should also be able to identify a specific person as the next of kin. We are keen to see an additional simple next-of-kin register available to everyone in our community. 
But this bill will not just confer equal rights on same-sex couples; it will also eliminate the very limited amount of preferential treatment that some same-sex couples are now entitled to. One example is welfare payments where gays and lesbians in same-sex relationships are individually entitled to benefits. The Greens understand that this is something of a trade-off but we also want to highlight the very serious and significant broader debate around welfare reform. In our view the whole welfare system should be built on principles of universality simplicity and equity. We consider it important to look at rewriting the whole Social Security Act and to look very closely at all the issues around benefit payments to people in a marriage a civil union or a relationship in the nature of marriage—a specific set of requirements just around the Social Security Act. 
Because there are negative as well as positive implications for couples in this bill it is extremely important that there is a long lead-in period to ensure that people have the opportunity to consider their living arrangements partnership arrangements and relationships so that they make the best decisions about the way they want to construct their relationships in the future in light of these legislative changes. 
The bill does have some flaws which the Greens would like addressed in the select committee. One example is that it still continues legislative discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in some circumstances. For example under the Citizenship Act a married person’s spouse is entitled to citizenship where that spouse has been in New Zealand for 2 years or more but the spouse in a gay or lesbian relationship—whether that person has been in New Zealand for 2 years or 20 years—is not automatically entitled to citizenship. That is a continuation of a legislative barrier and discrimination against gay and lesbian people. It is unjustified and the Greens would like to see some work done on that issue in the select committee. 
We also note that there remains a restriction on the adoption of children and that only married couples are able to adopt children. This again is a continuation of an unjust and serious discrimination against gay and lesbian couples who for a variety of reasons might want to adopt children. There is of course a serious question here about the fact that stable committed and exclusive relationships are very important and form the basis of our community structures. This legislation is designed to support those stable committed and exclusive relationships and apply the law equally to them. 
The Greens will be supporting this bill recognising both the trade-offs in it and the continued legislative anomalies carried through in it. We hope those issues will be addressed in the select committee.