The Relationships Bill, which will confer on couples in civil unions the same rights and responsbilities of married couples, is set to return to Parliament in the next few weeks but the controversy has moved away from same-sex couples to the status of defactos. Under the proposed legislation, defacto couples will also be treated exactly the same as married and civil union couples in the eyes of the law, but National's Bill English is concerned that the result would be compulsory marriage for everyone. He says couples choose to get married or have a civil union because they want different levels of commitment and responsibilities. "This is not a moral issue; I can't understand why people, younger people in particular, who often are going through a series of relationships, would tolerate the Government coming along and saying `you're married',” he says. The Bill's return to the House was delayed until this year in order to allow the select committee to solve the problem of how defacto should be defined. Committee chairman Tim Barnett said yesterday the issue that the committee had to grapple with was whether people who ended up "drifting" into a relationship, should be treated as though they were married – "and if they do, what are the consequences of that?"
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 25th February 2005 - 12:00pm