August 31, 2012
Wall buoyed by support for marriage bill
Manurewa MP Louisa Wall says last night was a special night as her Marriage Equality Bill easily passed its first reading by 80 votes to 40.
The Labour MP says the high level of cross-party support shows her message that all citizens are treated with dignity and respect resonates with all MPs.
She never took support for granted.
“We had a solid group of people who had said publicly they were going to support my bill but you never knew and we never knew what New Zealand First was going to do. Initially they were going to abstain and eventually Winston voted against it and I obviously didn’t expect we would get 80 so I am very grateful to my MP colleagues for now allowing the New Zealand public to have a small say about the relevance of marriage equality to them and their whanau,” Ms Wall says.