First Reading Down...

66-50. Whew.

Some of the speeches from "opponents" are going to be a heavy feature of the supporters' campaign from here on in. Particular marks go to Bill Gudgeon for horrifying everyone; Dail Jones for causing laughter around both the Chamber and the Gallery; and Judith Collins for making no sense at all.

Brian Donnelley gave a strange but supportive speech; I liked his candle metaphor.

Chris Carter and Georgina Beyer gave good speeches as did all the Labour MPs. Peter Dunne was interesting but not convincing. Margaret Wilson was stunning. I liked Moana and Tim's speeches a lot because I know them best, and because I liked their approaches. Well done to all.

I *cannot wait* until the speeches go up on the Hansard website!

I would also note: would it not be wonderful if Parliament spent more time debating real issues in a passionate manner, and rather less time churning through boring old policy-based legislation?

How could we rescue Parliament?

Relieved and pleased on the issue at hand :-)

Jordan

Comments

[span(ner in the works)]

when will the speeches go up on Hansard? i would love to have a squiz too, especially as i missed most of them (stupid work ;-)

do you think it is a matter of holding the votes we have, or are there any who voted against who might be convinced to change their minds?

[Greyshade]

And did I hear Peter Brown arguing that the bill might pave the way for gay couples to adopt children and if so where is he coming from??? Surely even the most cranially petrified neanderthals no longer believe that "gays are pedophiles" crap.

[Jordan]

some people do believe it, passionately Greyshade. Scary.

Span - I don't know. I hope soon. I think the website of Campaign for Civil Unions (http://civilunions.org.nz) will post the full speeches. Both sides are good for supporters - the opponents are irrational and offensive to the vast majority of people.

[span(ner in the works)]

even scarier is the fact that he doesn't realise that homosexuals already have children, thousands of them, running around happily or not depending on the quality of their parenting (amongst other things) and not the gender or sexuality of their parents.

i have a number of friends whose parents are gay, and it hasn't warped them (although other things might have)