Labour motion passes, Malta to go for 28 May referendum on divorce

The final sitting that debated the Labour motion for a referendum on divorce finished at 1:12pm today after the motion was passed by the House. Read highlights of the speakers' comments on the motion here.

13:12 Labour amendment to the motion calling for the vote to be held on May 28 passes nem con. It was seconded by the Prime MInister.

Nationalist MPs Jesmond Mugliett and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando have voted in favour of a Labour motion for a referendum to take place on the 28 May on introducing divorce after four years of marital separation.

13:07 Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando thanks PM for giving free vote, expresses loyalty to government, says he has voted numerous times with government after having said he would vote for the Labour motion.

13:01 Voting is taking place by MPs standing up when asked who is in favour or against the Labour motion. Speaker exhorts people in Strangers' Gallery to be quiet during voting. Sitting now suspended for five minutes.

13:00 Muscat presents amendment for referendum to be held on 28 May, 2011. Prime Minister seconds.

12:53 "Shameful that people like the Prime Minister tried to depict people in favour of divorce as supporters of abortion, or minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici who claimed the only people who wanted divorce were men who wanted younger women."

12:52 "My position is clear and consistent... if referendum doesn't pass, I will bow my head to that decision at least in this legislation. The bill would have to be withdrawn."

12:42 "Divorce is something I believe in because it is part of modernising Malta... irrespective of the result of the referendum, I will be proud to have been on the right side of history. The Prime Minister said there will be a time in future when divorce will be introduced, but life comes by only once and there are many families who needed this solution yesterday."

12:35 "The PN's social soul is going back 30 years and looking less like a Christian-democrat party and more like Sarah Palin's Tea Party movement."

12:28 "We are in a situation today, where a woman who has lived with a man for 25 years, but who is not his wife, cannot have any visiting rights if he is admitted to hospital because they are not married."

12:27 "Responsible divorce will be sought after by those who want to guarantee security for a new family and to protect their children."

12:24 "Had countries not introduced divorce they would have experienced a soar in cohabitation levels. So far no country has reversed the introduction of divorce."

12:18 "Are not those who get an annulment permitted to remarry as much as they want?" Muscat refers to critics who say divorce will produce serial marriages. "Annulment nullifies relationships that existed."

12:17 "Government is living in a state of denial and resting on statistics... but these people are humans and not numbers. I believe divorce, once introduced, will not be a catalyst for social problems but actually expose these problems. Today's hypocrisy is sweeping our problems under the carpet."

12:11 "I am a Christian. Years ago when I started developing a liberal position in favour of divorce I believed I had a conflict. It was by the grace of God that I found people in the Church that I understood a position in favour of divorce could be based on an exam of conscience. That is why I enter this debate as a Labour MP who is Christian."

12:07 "European values are based on tolerance... and it is tolerance that I think should differentiate us from other societies. Tolerance gives us choice, and choice gives us rights."

12:06 "This question has got nothing to do with modelling ourselves on other countries or because we are the only country apart from the Philippines not to have divorce... there are ethical values inspired by other things than religion and divorce has to be treated rationally and not on some religious dogma. I want to live in a European country and that does not mean flying to Brussels or passing through the EU citizens' lane at airports. It means having a set of European values."

12:03 Opposition leader Joseph Muscat now addressing the House.

12:00 "We are trying to take the people for a ride over a lie that we're guaranteeing something that we cannot guarantee." (referring to maintenance of children.)

11:55 "How could we allow people the right to divorce simply because ' hey have had enough of marriage'. The abuse of such a concept can be so large that it does not justify giving capricious people the right to marry simply because they are capricious enough to do so..."

11:54 "We are giving out a right to capricious people to divorce... this divorce allows people to divorce instantly just by spending four years not living with their spouse. The no-fault divorce allows capricious people to go from one marriage to the other."

11:53 "The question as written implies misleadingly that some form of guarantees will be given on the maintenance of children."

11:46 "MPs who refuse to listen to their conscience just to be popular or 'mainstream' does not deserve our respect... I hope to God we vote according to what we really believe in... I know there are many among us here who are under pressure to vote with the majority, should the referendum be won by the 'divorcists' [sic]."

11:42: "Why did the pro-divorce camp change its tactic on discussing the bill before a referendum... because they knew that the bill did not enjoy the support of the majority of the members of the House... they knew there were more Labour MPs voting against the bill itself than Nationalist MPs voting in favour of the law."

11:40 "This referendum is going to be based on speculations... it is interesting to see the pro-divorce camp changed its tactic once it saw the PN executive voting on a resolution on divorce. When there was previously a bill, the pro-divorce camp said it was unfair to hold a referendum before a bill is discussed on parliament - even Opposition leader Joseph Muscat had said he would table a private members' bill."

11:39 Austin Gatt is now addressing the house.

11:39 "It is a pity that we have not arrived at a common position on what to ask Maltese voters... we could not agree on the most crucial thing, what we will ask them."

11:23 Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco is now addressing the house.

11:20 "I am not uncomfortable to express my Christian beliefs here, and when we opened this sitting we made a supplication to the Holy Spirit to open our minds... man is like a beautiful Ferrari, and that Ferrari has a manual, and if that manual says the car needs petrol but you put diesel in the car, that Ferrari is going to stop: the values God gave us were for our own good. He did not give us such values because He is some spoilsport... I am proud to say our society is better because of our values and the value of our family. But destroying these values for everybody to address an issue of some people, is a mistake."

11:15 "This referendum question does not propose that consensus between the spouses should be required of a divorce... which means spouses who leave the household do not need the consensus of the other spouse."

11:13 "This question does not reflect the private members' bill... the bill has not yet been discussed, but only presented. And if this motion reflects this law, does this mean that all Labour signatories to the motion are in agreement with the divorce bill?"

11:11 "I believe we must keep on working to preserve the strength of marriage... but if marriages break down we must find a way to give people who start a new family an element of protection. Because we know that if people are abused in the first marriage, they are tantamount to being abused in the second marriage."

11:08 "The desire for marital permanence was not invented by the Church... it is desired by everybody who enters marriage and it is this permanence we have to defend. Friends of mine have had marital breakdown, but should we therefore break this concept of marriage for everybody by giving them a newly frocked marriage, one that is not permanent?"

11:07 "I am hurt by critics who say that those who oppose divorce are necessarily confessionals who are intolerant and want to impose their morality on others."

11:02 "It is not true that fault and financial consequences of fault are really addressed in the motion's referendum question: if spouses do not live together for four years, even after a marriage of one year, we are allowing such a couple to divorce."

11:00 Fenech delivers anecdote of foreigners talking to him of divorce: "I asked someone who had divorced after one year of marriage, whether he would have tried to reconcile had divorce not been possibile, and he said yes. I fear that a snowball effect will be precipitated once divorce is introduced."

10:54 "Status of so many in Australia is that many are today choosing not to marry and instead cohabit..."

10:53 Finance Minister Tonio Fenech is now addressing the house.

10:45 "Labour MP Adrian Vassallo and Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi should understand that prevalence of social problems are informed by marital breakdown not by divorce itself, a situation already existent among us... children will only suffer more by being forced to live in unhappy family and not in new family of spouses rebuilding lives and families."

10:42 Pullicino Orlando says he would abstain from voting on divorce bill if referendum is won by voters who vote against divorce bill.

10:40 "We had called (former Labour leader) Alfred Sant anti-democratic for saying he would not stand by verdict in consultative referendum... the question posed to the electorate in the EU referendum in 2003 asked people whether they wanted Malta to be part of enlargement of EU on 1 May 2004 and Sant said he felt it was not the ripe time for Malta to be an EU member then - I'm sure Sant would have voted yes if it was a simple question asking the 'imbecile' Maltese people whether they agreed with EU accession or not."

10:39 Refers to MP Edwin Vassallo: "How could an MP use his faith to justify voting against the will of the people because the referendum itself is 'only' consultative'."

10:35 "MP Beppe Fenech Adami says divorce is wrong because it allows multiple remarriage... and then he says divorce is only for rich people who can afford maintenance payments. Is it an easy divorce for serial marriages, or one, hard divorce because of the costs involved?"

10:33 "Let's give the electorate a fair question, a question that respects the choice of those who believe in a responsble form of divorce."

10:29 "The Irish are stereotypical idiots in jokes... how confusing was their referendum question for them to have decided on divorce themselves?" - JPO referring to claims by MP Stephen Spiteri and Francis Zammit Dimech that question was too confusing, or did not include all aspects of the divorce bill being proposed.

10:25 Refers to claims by DJ and anti-divorce campaigner Pierre Cordina that divorce would allow him to leave wife instantly and look for new partner. "I am sure he had nothing to say... he couldn't think of anything right to say."

10:21 Refers to Andre Camilleri's claim that battered wives should separate not divorce from abusive husbands. "Maltese law does not even defend women forcefully from abusive husbands... it liberates aggressors. Does Dr Andre [sic] think that women should just be punching bags?"

10:20 "Government's plans to introduce cohabitation law would have created second-class marriage if not bigamy... Malta would have been 'strange creature' inside EU."

10:16 "Had it not been a private members bill moved by a UK Labour MP, capital punishment would not have been outlawed in MP... Edwin Vassallo's claim that standing orders, modelled on UK law, did not consider such private members bill from 'upstaging' agenda, is incorrect."

10:15 "If we impose our beliefs on citizens we'll end up worse than Iran, ruled by Ayatollahs..."

10:13 "Children born out of wedlock because parents are separated spouses who cannot remarry. Lack of guarantees means mothers are declaring fathers 'unknown' so that they claim social benefits for children."

10:10 Statistics from Eurostat - Maltese marriage rate in 2008 was 6.03 for every 1,000 population, but rate of marital breakdown of 22% (separations and foreign divorces) but marriage annulments do not features since the marriage is considered 'null'.

10:05 "The PN believes in family, but is it just the family that has had a serene history? Or do second families who live in harmony and have had children not worthy of this appellation?... Is it just the people who got it right at the first go who are entitled to a family? Are we perpetuating a caste system?"

10:04 "Was rallying cry of Xoghol Gustizzja Libertà (Work, Justice, Liberty) solely reserved for toothpaste and chocolate?"

10:03 "I cannot understand how PN after years of accepting political candidates that were openly pro-divorce, took a stand in the executive committee against divorce?"

10:01 "Let's not allow the 1995 Church-State concordat blind us to the human empathy we have to show to suffering couples."

09:55 "What constitutes common good?" Pullicino Orlando quoting US founding father John Adams, Profs. Kenneth Wain "if object of law is common good, how is it being defined and who defines it? First thing, it must be common, refer to the whole of society, including individuals and minorities, it is wellbeing of everybody in society... that good is best served when people are left free t live their lives and not when paternalistic state or intolerant majority commands them."

09:53 Refers to PM's statement Tuesday evening that 'time has not yet come for divorce': "When will it be ripe for divorce to be introduced? Potentially we will have 75,000 cohabiting people who have no other choice... what effects will this have on our society?"

09:50 "This law gives more value to the family: what value would it have if it was built by separated spouses forced to cohabit... while other couples are 'aided' in getting divorce from abroad or an ecclesiastical annulment."

09:42 "In cases of annulment, spouses are granted dispensation from maintenance payments because marriage is considered as null and never having existed."

09:40 "Guarantees for maintenance of spouses are already enshrined in Maltese law and already a criminal offence to withhold maintenance payment, and civil remedy to demand maintenance payment from the courts."

09:36 "Courts already grant 'no-fault' separation to spouses on grounds of threats, or offence against a spouse or their children... or because marriage has broken down irremediably... court can also declare separation because spouses were married without consent. This means judges can give no-fault separation."

09:35 Addressing Minister Tonio Fenech: "Being a Catholic politician is well and good... but putting the temporal interests of the Church before the interests of the citizens is wrong. I defended the Church's right to faith schools, but I cannot defend its interest and temporal power in parliament as we did in the Church-State agreement of 1995..."

09:27 "This is a discussion that will - God willing [sic] - bring a change to the better for so many suffering couples."

09:25 "Divorce is a state of fact, the termination of a marriage... asking separated spouses to wait four years to divorce is a long time."

09:22 "Not easy for me to vote for a Labour motion, but I believe we have to go for referendum and that we should not prohibit citizens from making a clear choice on this matter."

09:21 "I felt that minority rights should not be submitted to referendum... but then I understood that a matter of such importance should be decided by referendum."

09:20 Speaker Michael Frendo intervenes to clarify that he offered his advice when asked by Pullicino Orlando to consult parliament's lawyer Profs. Ian Refalo.

09:18 "Question proposed by in motion is same as Irish question in its referendum."

09:16 "The reason MPs are opposing the referendum is because they want to impose their beliefs upon others."

09:15 “Claims that the referendum question is ‘sugar-coated’ have not been backed by proper arguments against the law being proposed in the private members bill… if we can improve it, my colleagues should present amendments to the law.”

09:13 "My private members bill is built on most conservative divorce law on the face of the earth – the Irish model."

09:11 “No scientific study exists to make a difference between the way civil separations, ecclesiastical annulment, or divorce affect spouses and their children.”

09:10 “Civil separations and ecclesiastical annulment exists, and children will always suffer from the trauma of separation in any process of marital termination.”

09:02 Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando starts off the sitting. "Let me start off by saying that I disagree with divorce... I hope to see a strengthening of the family unit."