Copeland Gordon: Care of Children Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Copeland Gordon: Care of Children Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:621;Page:16690] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 It would be churlish of me not to say that a great deal of improvement relating to the care of children will result from the passage of the bill. I know that many members of the Justice and Electoral Committee worked very hard and very cooperatively and constructively in that regard. At the same time however I want to say how disappointed I am at times that for whatever reason common sense does not seem to apply when it comes to drafting our legislation. I say that because I drew the following situation—which I will describe to the Committee—to the attention of the select committee but it fell on deaf ears and I cannot for the life of me begin to understand why. 
I want to explain a real-life situation to the Committee. A few years ago a beautiful little baby girl was born to a couple living together. As far as everyone was aware everyone bonded with that little girl and that was not only her mum and dad but also her grandparents on both sides. Both the maternal and the paternal grandparents bonded with that little girl. However the story does not have a happy ending because a couple of years later the mother of the child basically showed the father of the child the door. There may have been some good reasons for that. The father of the child then went to court to try to establish his rights for ongoing access to that beautiful little girl. At that point in time the mother of the baby suddenly said that he was not the father. There was no name on the birth certificate. Now the little girl happened to be the spitting image of her dad but that made no difference. When the mother was asked who the father was she named a second male a different person and said that he was the father of the baby. 
I cannot begin to explain to the Committee how much grief that caused the father and his parents the grandparents of the child and that remains the case 3 years later. Years ago we would have said that in this situation only God knows who the father is but we forget that today we have DNA technology and it would be a simple straightforward matter to prove once and for all who the father of the child is. Has that happened? No it has not. This young man has been to the courts—I might add on legal aid—and he has been to lawyers for the last 3 years. They told him that nothing can be done about the situation. I refer members now to new section 10 in clause 165. New section 10 states: “Declaration as to paternity (1) In this section eligible person means a person—(a) who is a woman …” and then it goes on to state “who alleges” so and so and then “who can prove paternity”. Why in God’s name does that section not state “a woman or a man”? Why is it that we as a Parliament are prepared to tolerate this unacceptable situation? 
We have the science—we should use the science. We should determine the paternity of this little girl once and for all. We should do that in the interests of the father we should do that in the interests of both the maternal and the paternal grandparents and we should certainly do it in the interests of the child. What will happen to this little girl as she grows up when she knows? She will find out because in spite of all the court orders and so forth her father—who by the way is in a new relationship now—will not give up. He believes with all his heart that that little girl is his child. So why cannot we in Parliament realise these practical human situations have some compassion and exercise some common sense? Why can we not do the right thing instead of deciding on the basis of a sexist decision that while women clearly have the right under this bill to establish the paternity of their children men do not? I cannot for the life of me understand what kind of ideology takes over a select committee so that it will not bend an issue like that. It is absolutely unacceptable. I fear for the psychological development of that little girl growing up.