Former TVNZ presenter Tāmati Coffey and partner Tim Smith announce they're expecting their second baby

Publish Date
Friday, 25 November 2022, 9:26AM

Three years after welcoming his first baby with partner Tim Smith into the world, Rotorua-based MP Tāmati Coffey has revealed they're expecting their second child!

Announcing the news on Instagram, the proud dad wrote: "She's a girl. And she's due in March. And we can't wait.

"And again, we remain grateful to our surrogate Wonder Woman and her whānau, for allowing our little whānau to grow a little bigger."

Coffey, a former TV host, proposed to Tim Smith between Christmas and New Year 2010, in Rotorua.

They became civil union partners in 2011.

The couple's son, Tūtānekai Smith-Coffey, was also born via surrogate in July 2019.

In 2019, Coffey submitted his first member’s bill, the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill.

The bill aimed to simplify surrogacy arrangements, ensure information recorded on birth certificates is complete, and provide a way to enforce surrogacy arrangements, in case an intending parent chooses not to take custody of the child.

Under current laws, intending parents of a child born via surrogacy are not offered automatic rights to custody of the child, meaning a formal adoption process is required to complete the arrangement.

"Having observed the process and been through the process ... I recognise lots of things needed to change," he said at the time.

The bill was introduced to Parliament in September last year, passing its first reading in May.

It is at the select committee stage, with a report being prepared for the House, including recommended changes to the bill.

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