The names of MPs who voted for and against the first reading of the Civil Union bill have been released. Six Labour MPs voted against the legislation, and three abstained. The abstentions were Ashraf Choudhary, Winnie Laban and Janet Mackey. The "noes" were Harry Duynhoven, Clayton Cosgrove, Paul Swain, John Tamihere, Taito Philip Field, and Damien O'Connor. ACT's Deborah Coddington voted against also, despite her public proclamations of individual choice, as did National MP Maurice Williamson in spite of the lip service paid to gay communities in the past. Only five National MPs voted for: Don Brash, Katherine Rich, Pansy Wong, Clem Simich and Lockwood Smith. The purpose of this vote was not to pass the bill into law, but to send it to a select committee for further debate.