Press Release by United Future at 3:52 pm, 04 Aug 2008

UnitedFuture is calling on the Government to immediately introduce DNA paternity testing, following new figures from Britain showing that in one in five claims DNA testing proves that the mother misidentified the father of their child.

“It is a disgrace that in New Zealand men have no right at all to get a simple DNA test to confirm whether they are the father or not,” says Mrs Turner.

“Presently, if the mother says no to a DNA test, then the man and child are left in the dark as to whether they are in fact related.”

Since DNA paternity testing figures began to be collected in Britain in 1998, 4,854 paternity claims have turned out to be false after testing according to the Guardian.

“The British situation is comparable to here and the numbers are simply staggering. In one in five cases of disputed parentage the wrong father has been fingered – but in New Zealand they have no right to clear their name.

“This means that thousands of New Zealand kids out there have no idea who their biological father is and that thousands of men are paying tens of thousands of dollars to raise children that are not even theirs.

“All this could be fixed if the Government introduced DNA testing in cases of disputed parentage. It is easy, it is accurate and it simply removes the cloak of uncertainty that surrounds so many father-child relationships.”

Mrs Turner has a bill on the Parliamentary order paper titled the Family Proceedings (Paternity Orders and Parentage Tests) Amendment Bill. “I invite the Government to pick up my Bill – it’s already written and awaiting a first reading. There can be no more excuses for the lack of action on this issue,” says Mrs Turner.