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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (13 March) . . Page.. 1066 ..
MS TUCKER
(continuing):for people who are in this situation want a special acknowledgment by way of having the amendment that Ms Dundas has put. That is why I support it.
MR STANHOPE
(Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Community Affairs and Minister for the Environment) (5.08): I understand that perfectly well, Ms Tucker; I understand it quite clearly. I also understand that this amendment has not been debated in the public domain, that this amendment has not been a matter of moment. The suggestion is that we should in this law reform package alter in a significant way the law as it is currently applied and has been applied for years in relation to the determination of a domestic relationship.I do not know when this notion of laws defining de facto relationships was first developed. I do not know how old the common law or statute law on de facto relationships is, but it is old. We have had an understanding of what a bona fide domestic relationship is for ages. I do not feel at all comfortable with a process which changes that here today with absolutely no public debate or discourse. I have received 400 to 500 letters about my assault on the institution of marriage.
Ms Tucker
: So have I.MR STANHOPE
: Yes. It is government legislation, Ms Tucker.Ms Tucker
: Which needed support.MR STANHOPE
: Yes. I am not suggesting otherwise. But you know the nature of politics, Ms Tucker.Ms Tucker
: Someone gave your name with my number. I'm getting your phone calls, actually. We are sending them back.MR STANHOPE
: That wasn't done by me, but it is not a bad idea for future reference. But you know what I am saying. In the conversation, the discourse, the discussion about the right of the community to be involved, to be consulted, for us as legislators to connect with them about law reform and changes to the law, if we walked out of here today with a law which says that you do not ever have to live together with a person in order for your relationship with that person to be regarded by the law as a bona fide domestic relationship-Ms Tucker
: With all those criteria.MR STANHOPE
: This is a new criterion. None of those other criteria have ever led to a circumstance, in the opinion of my department, where a court has ever found that a couple who have never lived together were deemed to be in a bona fide domestic relationship. That is the advice I have been given. We are not aware of a single case and now you are legislating that as a matter of fact you do not have to live together for your relationship to constitute a bona fide domestic relationship.That is a major extension of the law, going from a circumstance where it has never happened, according to the advice that I have received, to a situation where you are
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