The Prime Minister is in support of civil unions, but is defending her government against the bill's opponents by making Bush-style pronouncements about marriage. "I think that the traditional concept of marriage is clearly one of a relationship between a man and a woman. I think that probably most people would prefer to see it kept that way," she says. "The Government has been conservative on this. We are not proposing to amend the Marriage Act. The Marriage Act stays as an Act for men and women to access. It is not available to homosexual couples." Clark, who says she would have preferred a civil union herself if the option had been available when she married, would not be drawn on the issue of legalising gay marriage.