1 November 2012

Government leaves needs of transgender people on backburner

The Government’s shelving of the Citizenship Amendment Bill is making the lives of transgender people needlessly difficult, the Green Party said today.

The Minister of Internal Affairs replied to a member of the public in July saying that the Government took the Citizenship Amendment Bill off the Order Paper so that it could make changes to include the reissuing of citizenship certificates for transgender people. In answer to a written question, the Minister now says there is no timeline for when this work will be done.

“This may not be a high priority for the Minister but for transgender people, putting this Bill on the backburner is heart-breaking,” Green Party rainbow issues spokesperson Jan Logie said.

“The Minister should stick with his promise to address this issue and make a real commitment, with a deadline that can give people surety.

“Without paperwork that matches their gender, every time people have to interact with Government is a hugely stressful experience.

“A relatively straight forward change in legislation would make the world of difference.

“The lack of commitment from the Government is keeping these people in unnecessary limbo.

“These people deserve to hear from Minister Chris Tremain about a timeline for this legislative change that would make a huge positive difference to their lives.”

Jan Logie’s written question:

Q: 09128 (2012) When will a bill amending the Citizenship Act 1977 be put on the Government’s legislation programme?

A: Policy decisions to amend the Citizenship Act were made by Cabinet in November 2009, and a Bill was introduced at the end of October 2010. The Bill was discharged from the Order Paper on 21 March 2012. This was because a number of additional policy issues relating to the operation of the Citizenship Act had arisen since the Bill was first introduced. No decision has yet been taken on the content or timing of a replacement amendment Bill.

ENDS

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