The Maxim Institute has been slammed for encouraging children to make submissions to Parliament against the Civil Union bill. Maxim's form letters for submission include one "from a pupil", which includes the lines: "We feel it is important for the government to say it is best for children when parents are married...We would hate even more the idea of having a second mum in the house, pushing dad out of the way...Why do you want to take away any reason to get married?" "Exploiting children's innocence is not part of a decent campaign," says Cameron Law, a spokesperson for civilunions.org.nz. "Is it ethical conduct to ask children to sign submissions which put words in their mouths? We don't think it's at all ethical. It smacks of exploitation. "This is a transparent attempt to use young people in the service of ideas which they may not share, or have thought about. The idea that children feel that marriage is under siege by Civil Unions is not logical - there is no evidence to support it."