Covenant defeated in Christchurch

From Lawrence Kimberley, No Anglican Covenant Convener in New Zealand

Part of Christchurch Cathedral after the earthquake
more pictures here.

Good news! The covenant was defeated in the synod of the Diocese of Christchurch which met today.

There was a long debate and a high quality one. Most speakers spoke against the motion. There was a vote by secret ballot.

It passed in the house of laity and was defeated in the house of clergy. The voting numbers were not released.

This will be bad news for their pro-Covenant Bishop, Victoria Matthews.

Update: 
From Bosco Peters' blog:

By those in-the-know I was told this was one of the highest-quality debates seen in the country. I think it was done respectfully and with a great deal of listening. I must say I am surprised and delighted by the outcome. We now join three other Pakeha dioceses (of the seven in our province) against the “Covenant” as well as joining with Tikanga Maori’s resolve against it. The debate now moves to General Synod/ te Hinota Whanui.

And from Peter Carroll (who proposed the motion and sets out his speech in his blog):

It was a good debate. We had plenty of time (too much really, as we ran short on other things later in the day). We voted in as decisive a manner as one can do (by houses) and the outcome was the motion did not pass, defeated in the house of clergy, although passed in the house of laity.

Lawrence added later, in a response to a question about Bishop Matthews' response:

+Victoria was gracious – a tone of graciousness had already been set in the debate anyway. Basically she simply announced the numbers with a little light humour.