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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (17 April) . . Page.. 1013 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

We do support the Bills, Mr Speaker. I think it is very important that, as a community, we are able to take these kinds of steps without the kind of hysteria or name-calling which has marked such debates in other jurisdictions. I commend the Bills. I am very pleased to see Mr Humphries bring them forward. If there are other steps to be taken that achieve the same recognition of people's rights and the recognition that all cannot be fixed in the courts, I would be very pleased to consider those favourably as well.

MR MOORE (3.17): Mr Speaker, in rising to support this legislation, it is with great pleasure that we give recognition, as Ms Follett has done, to the reform process that has been going on through this chamber for some years. We can debate such issues in a logical and rational way. The overall view of the chamber now, just as it was under previous governments, is that we recognise people's rights as people rather than use labels to marginalise them and to reduce their rights.

Despite all the criticism that has been levelled at the ACT Assembly since self-government, I find, when I go interstate and talk to people in other places, that they recognise that this legislature is able to debate rationally and logically a whole range of issues. They do not seem to be able to manage the same level of debate in other places. That is not just a positive reflection on this legislature. It is also a positive reflection on this community as a whole. I think it is something that we all feel proud about, Mr Speaker.

I compliment Mr Humphries on continuing the process started by previous governments. I hope that this process will continue across a range of other areas where people's rights are affected, not because they are individuals but because they are in some way associated with one group or another. It is a positive step forward. I applaud Mr Humphries and I am proud to lend my vote to supporting this legislation, just as I did in the case of previous legislation of a similar nature.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (3.19), in reply: Mr Speaker, I thank members for their support for this legislation. In some ways it is not easy to change the way in which the law has operated for generations with respect to the entitlements of family members in the event of a death, but it is important that we keep elements of the law which need to change in light of other developments up to date. The domestic relationships legislation which Mr Connolly introduced into this place a couple of years ago has led to an anomaly in this area of the law where we recognise that while people are living they have certain claims on other people on the basis of a certain relationship with them but we do not recognise a commensurate obligation with respect to people who have died. It is very often the case when people have died that the fulfilling of obligations occurs by way of bequests in wills or other benefits from the estate of a deceased person. Mr Speaker, this is a process that has been going on for some time and I certainly acknowledge Mr Connolly's contribution to that. My party was very pleased to support that legislation when it was originally put forward. We did so unstintingly and we do so again today.

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