The History of the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Act 2021
In 2016 the Department of Internal Affairs completed its review of the access provisions in accordance with the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Amendment Act 2008 (Amendment Act) on behalf of the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon Peter Dunne.
Hon Peter Dunne presented his report to Parliament in October 2016 and requested that Cabinet issue drafting instructions for a bill arising from the review.
View or download the report here: Minister's final report to Parliament – October 2016
View or download the Cabinet paper here: Review of access provisions in the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995
Bill introduced to Parliament – August 2017
The Bill was introduced to the House by the then National Government in August 2017 and was read for the first time in December 2017. It was unanimously referred to the Governance and Administration Select Committee.
Select Committee report back – August 2018
The Governance and Administration Committee reported back in August 2018 on the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill. There were 67 submissions, including 26 oral submissions. Individual submissions can be viewed here: BDMRR Bill submissions
A petition about the process to change the sex recorded on a birth certificate was presented to the Committee. The Committee subsequently recommended changes to the Bill to allow individuals to change the sex recorded on their birth certificate through a self-identification process.
You can read the full report of the Select Committee here:
Final report (Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill) (PDF, 669k)
The Departmental report can be viewed here:
Departmental Report for the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill (PDF 1414k)
Bill deferred – February 2019
The Bill was deferred in 2019 due to interest groups not having the opportunity to submit on the recommended amendments introduced by Select Committee after public submissions had closed.
The previous Minister of Internal Affairs’ press release relating to deferring the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill can be found here: Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill to be deferred
On 1 August 2019, the Minister of Internal Affairs announced the appointment of a Working Group for reducing barriers to changing registered sex (see: Beehive website media release). In 2020, the Working Group provided the Minister of Internal Affairs with a report and recommendations on practical improvements to the current process to change sex information on birth certificates. In April 2021, the government released its response to the Working Group’s report.
You can find the full version of the Working Group’s report in here: Report of the Working Group for Reducing Barriers to Changing Registered Sex (PDF, 3.2MB) and the Government Response to the Working Group’s report in here: Government Response to the Working Group for Reducing Barriers to changing Registered Sex (PDF, 195KB)
Bill passed – December 2021
The Bill resumed progress in Parliament in 2021. Following Second Reading, the Minister proposed further improvements to the self-identification provisions that were considered by Select Committee under an inquiry process. The Bill was subsequently passed in December 2021.
You can read the full report of the Select Committee here: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/reports/document/SCR_116609/inquiry-into-supplementary-order-paper-59-on-the-births
