The Government wants the Civil Union Bill passed before Christmas but the minister driving the controversial legislation says it is not to clear the decks for election year.
Associate Justice Minister David Benson-Pope said yesterday that he would "love to see it out of the way before Christmas".
"I'mon the record as saying I think it would be really good ... I'd like to see it out of the way before Christmas."
The Maxim Institute claims the Government wants the select committee examining the Civil Union Bill and the related Relationships (Statutory References) Bill, both of which it strongly opposes, to report back by the first week of December.
The institute claims the plan is then for the Government to take urgency with the aid of the Greens and ram the bill through Parliament with the intention of having the first "gay marriage" by Easter.
But Mr Benson-Pope rejected the notion that the Government wanted the Civil Union Bill out of the way this year to clear the decks for election year.
"There's no substance to that sort of line.
"It's been hanging around for long enough, it's been through a huge select committee process."
The official deadlines for the justice and electoral select committee's reports back to Parliament are December 23 for the Civil Union Bill and January 17 for the Relationships Bill.
The committee chairman, Tim Barnett, said it was technically possible to report back before the deadlines but he had not been asked to.
The bills establish a new relationship status, civil union, for same-sex and heterosexual couples.
