Gonzi to confirm his ‘No’ in tomorrow’s final parliamentary vote on divorce
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is set to vote against the amended and completed divorce bill as it will be brought for the final vote in third reading tomorrow morning.
Gonzi – who earlier this month had voted against the bill on a matter of conscience during the second reading of the bill – had said in his parliamentary speech that he will vote against the bill in all its stages in parliament.
The divorce bill is scheduled to come into force as of 1 October, and Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici will be given until 31 March 2012 to update all other related laws.
Gonzi has also raised the issue of maintenance. He described the ‘guarantee’ for adequate maintenance as a fallacy, only to be upstaged by MPs in committee who agreed that the right for adequate maintenance to be given to the children of divorced parents until they are 23 years old, if they are in post-secondary education, would be extended to all children.