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The Civil Union Bill has made its way through the next stage of the House and, as I previously signalled, I voted in favour of it passing into legislation.
I believe this is a human rights issue. The Civil Union Bill provides a mechanism for couples who cannot marry, or do not wish to marry, to publicly declare commitment to each other, and have this commitment legally and socially recognised. It is simply an issue of choice. The Government is not forcing anybody to do anything, but people will be able to put their own value on their relationship and decide how they want to present that to the world.
Census figures showed some 330,000 New Zealanders had chosen to live in a relationship other than marriage. There were also roughly 10,000 people in same-sex relationships who cannot marry.
Civil union will be a new legal entity, designed for the needs of couples in the 21st century. The registration of a civil union provides a couple with readily available proof of the nature of their relationship, rather than relying on a determination of whether their relationship falls under the definition of de facto.
But where same-sex couples are allowed to marry in some overseas countries, they will not have that relationship recognised as a marriage in New Zealand. Overseas civil union-type arrangements will be recognised here, however, that reciprocity will not apply to overseas same-sex marriages, which will not be recognised as marriage here.
Instead, where an overseas jurisdiction allows same-sex marriage, unlike New Zealand, that can only be recognised as a civil union here. This ensures that marriage in New Zealand remains solely available to a man and a woman - one of the stated goals of the Civil Union legislation.
The Select Committee decided there are good reasons for recognising overseas relationships as civil unions, as long as they meet certain requirements but the recommended changes make it quite clear that in New Zealand same-sex couples will have access only to civil unions. So-called overseas "gay marriages" will not be recognised as a marriage here.
New Zealanders are great travellers, so as we recognise other countries' civil unions, and like arrangements, so we hope they will recognise ours.
The British House of Commons recently passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership, they will then have same legal rights and responsibilities as married couples. Over 9000 New Zealanders gain visas for the United Kingdom each year.
Civil union-type arrangements are now relatively common among European countries and such arrangements can also be found in countries including Canada and the United States.
I have received letters, emails and calls from people expressing their opinions on the Civil Union Bill, both for and against, and I thank them for that.
Many Wairarapa people have been following the progress of the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act, which came in to force last week.
This Act allows hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with minor convictions to finally put past mistakes behind them.
The new law allows people who have never been sentenced to imprisonment, and who meet the criteria, including having had no convictions in the last seven years, to have their convictions concealed.
The majority of those people committed some relatively minor offence in their youth and are now totally law-abiding.
There are few people who can claim to have led totally blameless lives. Those who were convicted many years ago for offences such as shoplifting have, however, often continued to be disadvantaged by those convictions.
Critics of the Act say it requires individuals to lie but it does not. It simply allows a great many ordinary and now law-abiding New Zealanders who have long suffered unnecessary anxiety about past mistakes to finally bury their past. Convictions for minor offending should not be a life sentence.
The Act only rewards those who have permanently changed their behaviour. Any further conviction, regardless of the sentence, ends a person's entitlement to clean-slate their convictions until they meet all the criteria again.
Because the Act only conceals convictions, and does not wipe them, full criminal records will still be made available during police investigations or court proceedings; when applying for a firearms licence, or for sensitive types of employment, such as the care of children or national security.
While the legislation will automatically apply, individuals will still need to check if they meet the eligibility requirements before they claim the benefits of the regime. People can request a copy of their criminal record from the Privacy Unit at the Ministry of Justice.
Information about how this can be done, and about Clean Slate, is available from the Ministry of Justice's website www.justice.govt.nz under the 'Information for the Public' section.
But travellers need to be aware that, because New Zealand legislation is not binding in another country, the Act does not legally excuse them from disclosing all convictions to overseas authorities.
The Ministry of Justice has produced a pamphlet about the legislation, which is available on the Ministry's website. It will also be distributed to police stations, courthouses, Citizens Advice Bureaux and community law centres and there are copies in my Masterton and Dannevirke offices.
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