Civil Unions Legal Once Again in Aussie Capital District
by Kilian Melloy
Wednesday Nov 11, 2009
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) may be headed for another battle over gay and lesbian family rights, following approval by the territory’s legislative assembly of provisions that give gay and lesbian Australian families the right to an official civil partnership ceremony.
The concern is that the country’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, will override those provisions. An ACT assembly-approved law from 2006 provided marriage equality in the ACT, but was overturned by Australia’s federal government. A subsequent measure in 2008 to allow ACT couples engaging in a civil union to have an officially recognized ceremony was dropped when it appeared that the federal government would once again turn the legislation back. The current law may be subjected to the same fate, reported Australian newspaper The Age in a Nov. 12 article.
’’The passage of these amendments does not change the Rudd Government’s clear policy on marriage or about relationship recognition of couples who choose it,’’ said a spokesperson for Brendan O’Connor, the federal government’s Acting Attorney General.
Jim Wallace, head of the Australian Christian Lobby, also predicted that the law would be put down. ’’It looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, it is a duck. I expect the Government to respond the same way."
Civil partnerships are legal, but the controversy arises from whether gay and lesbian couples should be entitled to a public and official ceremony to mark their commitment. The assembly’s new take on the provisions allowing for such ceremonies stipulates that they would be extended only to same-sex couples; for this reason, ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell said, the federal government would have no legal basis to challenge the territory’s law.
’’Unless they are able to come up with an argument that says why this impinges on the constitution powers available to them," said Corbell, "I simply have to conclude that this is a form of discrimination, this is a form of bigotry towards gay and lesbian people, there can be no other conclusion that you can draw."
An openly gay ACT official issued an appeal for couples entering civil unions to be allowed a ceremony. ’I am left wondering why it is that same-sex partners are not able to stand up in front of their family and friends and receive the formal blessing of the state for their union,’’ said the territory’s education minister, Andrew Barr.
’’Gays and lesbians are part of our community. We’re not nameless, faceless people. We don’t live on the margins of society. We deserve respect and the same dignity that is afforded to others. And we deserve equality.’’
Family rights for gay and lesbian families are patchwork in Australia, much as in the United States. Outside of the ACT, civil unions are permitted in two Australian states, Tasmania and Victoria, where second-parent adoption is also legal for gay and lesbian couples. Same-sex families may adopt children not belonging to one member of the couple in Western Australia and in the ACT. A Wikipedia article says that all Australian states do recognize same-sex families to some degree.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/12/2740487.htm
ACT prepared to fight for same-sex laws
The ACT Government says it will stand its ground against any Commonwealth opposition to its new same-sex partnership laws.
The Legislative Assembly yesterday passed a Greens bill allowing same-sex couples to have legally binding civil union ceremonies.
But the Commonwealth forced the ACT Government to water down similar laws last year as part of the Territory's Civil Partnership Act.
The Federal Government is yet to say whether it will accept the new legislation although Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland says its position on marriage has not changed.
Education Minister Andrew Barr - who is in a same-sex relationship - says if the Commonwealth intervenes again the ACT Government may take the fight all the way to the High Court.
"There is simply no logic in opposing civil partnerships with a ceremonial component whilst encouraging registration schemes," he said.
"What the Federal Government is saying is they don't object to gay couples, they don't object to legally recognising gay couples they just object to ceremonies.
"So it's just a problem with symbolism is it, not a problem with practicality?
"So we're left asking the question - why shouldn't same-sex partners be able to stand up in front of their family and their friends and be able to receive the blessing of the state for their union."
Mr Barr says the Commonwealth has no grounds to intervene.
"The Federal Government through the amendments to the Federal Marriage Act in 2004 defined marriage as between a man and a woman," he said.
"Therefore a same-sex relationship by that very definition can't be marriage.
"So it is perfectly within the rights of the states and territories to legislate for relationships other than marriage.
"This is the legal advice that the now Commonwealth solicitor-general has provided to the ACT.
"That would appear to be a very clear and concise and understandable piece of legal advice and no one has come forward to challenge that, and presumably the Commonwealth would not be doing so considering the origin of that advice."
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell agrees the Territory will not abandon the fight.
"The Commonwealth's going to have to come to grips with this issue rather than hoping they can squash us on the head and hope it all goes away - it's not going to go away," he said.
The bill will become law in about two weeks and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has six months if he wants to use his executive powers to disallow it.
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