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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1281 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

The opposition will be supporting Mr Stanhope's amendment. We welcome the government's initiative and we look forward to receiving a quick response from them that looks at how we respond to all unmet need, not just residential need. We certainly make the point that the community told us initially that a specific facility for low-level dementia sufferers is something that they see as an immediate priority.

Mr Stanhope's amendment to Ms Dundas' proposed amended amendment agreed to

Ms Dundas' amendment, as amended, agreed to.

MR STANHOPE (Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for Community Affairs and Minister for Women): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move a tidying up amendment to the motion.

Leave granted.

MR STANHOPE: Mr Speaker, it has been drawn to my attention that an editorial amendment is required to make sense of the motion that we are currently debating-that is, we need to remove the words "That the Government" from Mr Cornwell's motion; they no longer apply and no longer make sense. This should have constituted part of Ms Dundas' and my amendments but was overlooked. I move:

Omit the first occurring "That the Government".

Amendment agreed to.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

De facto relationships-property matters

MR HARGREAVES (11.16): Mr Speaker, I move the motion standing in my name on the notice paper relating to discrimination in de facto relationship property matters, which reads:

That this Assembly calls upon the Commonwealth Government to accept a reference of power from the State Governments in relation to de facto relationship property matters regardless of the sex of the persons in the de facto relationship and notes the Commonwealth's willingness to accept a reference only in relation to de facto heterosexual couples entrenches discrimination against other couples.

I begin my remarks on this motion by sharing a quote from a recent debate in the Victorian Legislative Assembly about recognition of same-sex relationships.

Unless we overcome our tendency to diminish the relationships of those we may not like or understand, and unless we stop scorning and belittling them, shutting them out, and negating, punishing and treating them as relationships non-grata, we will be

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