There was an uproar over Mangere MP Sua William Sio’s comments about voting against the marriage equality bill. Another Pacific Island/Labour MP has also spoken up and this probably won’t get as much coverage,  he’s with the majority of his fellow MPs on it.

Pacific Island MP standing strong for gay marriage

The Mana electorate’s Kris Faafoi says he’s not backing down.

The Labour caucus was given a talking to by leader David Shearer today over ill-discipline, including Mangere MP Sua William Sio’s claim the gay marriage Bill may cost it votes amongst the Pacific community.

Mr Faafoi has a large Pacific Island community in his electorate and says he is working to try and allay some of their concerns.

“I’ve got a lot of Pacific Island support and I’m speaking to a lot of the leaders in my Pacific Island community. I’ve told them straight up that I’m going to be supporting the Bill right through all its stages and that’s because I don’t believe that we should discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.”