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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3433 ..

The Bill repeals the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1963 and replaces it with new provisions based on the model bill. It retains the traditional framework of compulsory civil registration but adopts a more flexible approach to changing social needs. For example, the current restrictions on the surname which may be given to a child will no longer apply. Those restrictions are based on social conventions which are not applicable to all cultures and in fact are contrary to naming conventions of some ethnic groups. The new provisions will allow greater flexibility as the only restriction on names is that they are not prohibited names.

The concept of prohibited names has been introduced as part of the uniform law to exclude names which are obscene or offensive, are impractical to establish by usage or include an official title or rank.

Provisions in this Bill make it clear that there can be access to information in the Register for general purposes such as the collection of statistics. To balance that, there are specific provisions for protecting the privacy of those whose records are in the Register.

Another aspect of this Bill is that it opens the way for the use of new technology in the operation of the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages. It contemplates both the use of computers and new methods of data storage which may be practical to use in the future.

This Bill includes a comprehensive scheme for changing the name of an adult or a child. Unlike the old Act it requires a child who is 14 or older to consent to his or her name being changed. Although the existing right of an adult to change his or her name by common usage will continue, the power of a parent to sign and register a deed poll on behalf of a child will be removed. This will mean that parents wishing to change the name of a child will have to go through the

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