Current affairs show Close Up has revealed that 42 of New Zealand’s MPs would vote for the Marriage Amendment Bill’s first reading.

The team at Close Up attempted to contact all 121 New Zealand MPs today to find out their views on same-sex marriage - Close Up presenter Mark Sainsbury reported that all Green MPs, United Future’s Peter Dunne and Mana’s Hone Harawira would support the bill, as would 23 Labour MPs and “a handful of National MPs”.

However Sainsbury did state that many MPs were only supporting the bill’s first reading, which would see the bill sent to Select Committee, where public submissions will be requested before returning to Parliament for further discussion.

A further 18 MPs were undecided and stated they would wait to read the contents of the bill, whilst six “just won’t tell us”, according to Sainsbury. Close Up couldn’t reach 54 MPs due to the House being in session, and just one MP – NZ First’s Richard Prosser – said he will categorically not vote for the Marriage Amendment Bill.

Mark Sainsbury says, “The bill needs 61 to pass, and from these numbers it looks like it could pass”.

Louisa Wall was interviewed in Wellington and says, “I do think we’ll get the numbers for the first reading.

“The public should be consulted and that’s what the parliamentary process will facilitate. The rainbow community wants equality; they want the same rights as everybody.”

At the end of the interview, Mark Sainsbury told Wall he was interested in the continuation of the debate, “When a considerable number of your colleagues get off the fence.”