Two Things

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, March 14th, 2013 - 12 comments
Categories: labour, Parliament - Tags: ,

Congrats to Labour MPs Louisa Wall and David Clark as their private member’s bills passed their respective second readings last night.

Louisa’s Marriage Equality Bill passed 77 to 44, as 4 National MPs (3 cabinet ministers: Gerry Brownlee, Jonathan Coleman and Murray McCully) felt the heat from conservative Christian supporters and switched sides, leaving a large majority (including Raymond Huo, who abstained last time).

David Clark’s Bill to give workers their proper Public Holidays when Waitangi Day and Anzac Day fall on the weekend, passed again with its slim majority of 61-60 (National & Act opposed to giving workers their due). With John Key clarifying that they wouldn’t use their financial veto (which would be hugely unreasonable for a small govt cost), the Bill is free to proceed through its third (and final) reading. Amusingly National MP Chris Auchinvole attacked the bill as it would have little impact on the economy – so why wouldn’t you do it then?

Congrats again to both and looking forward to the 3rd readings and them becoming law!

(as a third thing: Full House for Parental Leave Submissions)

12 comments on “Two Things ”

  1. karol 1

    Congratulations to Louisa Wall & David Clark. Also to Sue Moroney on the PPL Bill.

    Mondayisation? – more public holidays to those who already get the most. No change for those who don’t work Mondays, and only get public holidays on the years when they happen to fall on their workdays.

    I’ll get excited when I see more consideration for the increasing numbers of workers who don’t work a standard Mon-Fri week.

  2. Well done Louisa and David and good politics. MMP is all about shifting majorities and they have both shown that with a well designed and principled proposal they can achieve change even when in opposition.

  3. Rogue Trooper 3

    Some submissions to the committee on the same-sex marriage bill were deemed too offensive to be seen or considered, for example, those by the Catholic Action network
    http://catholicaction.org/
    Credit where it’s due, Chris Auchinvoles’ speech in the house on the debate was Excellent and funny, and deserving of the applause.

    • aerobubble 3.1

      Same sex marriage is fine. But it would have helped had someone pointed out that a child whose parent die in some tragedy would not be adopted to a homosexual couple, or a single person, but would be placed with the most comparable adoption parents as possible. This would have nullified the argument, which I agree with, that a child does have the right to see a male and a female parenting roles up close, and some how the marriage of two same sex person would some how compromise this.

      Personally I believe any IVF treatment needs a man and a female parent involvement otherwise the procedure undermines the parenting rights of one sex over the other.

      India and China are unwilling to deal with the abortion of female fetuses, and this is leaving a huge growing band of men who will never have a long term relationship with a women. Hence rise in rapes, etc. This is the unforeseen costs of bad government.

      • karol 3.1.1

        Actually, I think any child has the right to have a parent or parents who are caring and provide a nurturing and loving home environment. There is so much diversity amongst males and amongst females, that the diversity of society and relevant role models can not be represented by just 1 or 2 adults.

        Sliding from same sex marriage to rape is a pretty long bow. Rape is not about looking for sex, but about exerting power over another.

        • aerobubble 3.1.1.1

          I agree that there are very macho women and soft men around. However the biology is different. Women do have periods. Men do leave the toilet seat up. Mean grow hair on their faces. I just believe that seeing them interact in a close family is helpful social acclimatisation
          especially when so many in society have grown up that way. This is not to say same sex couples cannot adopt, but that kids should be placed with what they know as best as possible.
          A kid who loses their mixed sex parents in tragedy, turning up adopted by two guys is not in my book a good outcome. Just as wrong as a orphaned kid from a secular household being placed by church authorities in a highly religious family. Now sure male-male marriages would be very very unlikely then to every be able to adopt, but this only reflects their own obvious inability to have child without outside help, so no loss there.

          I believe we should also mandate that sperm placed with sperm banks should only be withdrawn by men with fertility problems, much in the way that ova are only used by women to deal with their fertility problems. Its a gender bias to women and its wrong.

  4. grumpy 4

    Your hand is the wrong way round.

  5. A small win for the death cult.

    Common law has always opposed sexual equality, and Parliament lies about the nature of common law, describing it as case law. Common law is based on the ten commandment from the time of King Alfred the Great.

    NZ’s democratic representatives swear an oath of alliegence to the “Supreme Governor” of the Anglican Church, who swore and broke her coronation oath to keep “Gods laws”.

    The Anglican church was one of the Christian churches involved in the Canadian genocide. An estimated 50000 children died in Canadian residential schools from disease, neglect, abuse and murder. The Canadian government only admits to a death toll of about 3000.

  6. millsy 6

    Given a whole heap of National MP’s voted against SSM, I doubt that they have any right to bang on about ‘nanny state’.

    Rants from Colin Craig, Family First and Garth McVicar notwithstanding, SSM has pretty much sailed through the house so far, I was thinking about the crap with civil unions back in ’04, there was some pretty nasty stuff, the black shirts, MP’s fasting, and the TV shots of that happy clapper on bended knee outside of parliament praying that the bill doesnt go through, stuff like that. Perhaps the vast majority of them have realised that civilization might not actually collapse.

  7. karol 7

    In this Al Jazeera article, a US report that claims “Feminism is making us fat” is contested. Jill Filipovic argues that the evidence shows that Americans are becoming sicker because of the expansion of wage slavery, limited protection of workers rights, and promotion of unhealthy foods by corporates. It also argues that the lack of paid parental leave is contributing to the country’s ill health.

    But that is not quite true. The real culprits of our nationwide bad physical health – which, by the way, afflicts people of all body sizes – are complex, and include both the food we eat and the increasingly sedentary lifestyles we lead. Increased gender equality has in fact been good for our bodies, our minds and our families. But the same policies that stall women’s empowerment are also making us physically ill. …

    Parental leave is correlated with lower child poverty rates, improved child health, greater parental involvement, longer breastfeeding and higher maternal employment. But we have no national paid leave policy for parents. …

    We have an overworked population that does not see wages rising along with productivity or hours spent on the job. We are not guaranteed time off for leisure, let alone sickness or pregnancy. Many of us do not have basic benefits like health care, and just cross our fingers that we do not get sick or meet with an accident. We are stretched in all directions.

    Women, who tend to be the primary caretakers of children and are much more likely to be single parents and to live in poverty, are especially impacted by these Byzantine workplace policies. It is tough to figure out what is more limited: our time or our disposable income.

  8. Tigger 8

    Louisa Wall has been a class act throughout this process. Measured, calm and professional in the face of hate and stupidity. A real leader that Labour should be proud to have in their ranks.

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