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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3440 ..

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill 1997 contains provisions to recognise that a person can change his or her sex by undergoing sex reassignment surgery. A person who has done so can have his or her record of birth altered to show the new sex and will then be treated as a person of that sex under ACT law.

The Wills (Amendment) Bill 1997 makes an amendment to the Wills Act 1968 to clarify the position of transsexual persons and ensure that they are not unfairly treated as a result of having sex reassignment surgery. The amendment deals with the situation where a will refers to the sex of a person or class of persons. If a person included in that reference has sex reassignment surgery in the time between the making of the will and the death of the testator then the person is to be treated as still being of the sex he or she was when the will was made.

The will is therefore able to be interpreted in the context of the testator's understanding of the sex of the transsexual person at the time when the will was being made. This provision will work to remove confusion and will prevent unintended disadvantage to transsexual persons.

The provision will not override contrary intentions of the testator which are set out in the will or which may be considered by a court under other provisions of the Wills Act.

I commend this Bill to the Assembly.

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