Page 5412 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 8 December 2009
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Registrar-General to register a civil partnership by endorsing the couple’s notice of intention and to specify the day on which the registration is taken to have legal effect, which is to be the day on which the couple made their declaration before the notary.
To summarise, the compromise reached between the territory and the commonwealth in this area is that, while a civil partnership may not have effect unless it is registered, once it is registered it will have effect from the day on which the couple made their declaration in a civil partnership ceremony. Ceremonies continue to have real, meaningful and legal meaning under the act and the roles of civil partnership notaries are unchanged.
I would now like to turn to the issue of notice to be given to the Registrar-General. Clause 5 of the bill inserts into subsection 8A(1) of the act a new requirement. Couples who give to a notary a notice of their intention to enter into a civil partnership will now be required to also give that notice to the Registrar-General. The commonwealth’s reasoning for this amendment is that it clarifies the role of the Registrar-General in the registration of all civil partnerships and makes it clear that registration is essential in order for any civil partnership to have legal effect, which, in their view, will make the scheme consistent with schemes in other jurisdictions.
The ACT government’s view differs from that of the commonwealth on this issue. I am concerned about the added administrative activity generated by involving the Registrar-General at this point. Once again, while the government would prefer not to make this amendment, it is considered, on balance, to be an acceptable part of the compromise to ensure the continuation of the important gains that have been made. If this is needed to ensure that there are legal ceremonies with legal notaries as celebrants then we believe it is a worthwhile decision. The objective of the bill passed in November was to restore a legally recognised ceremony, and that will be maintained.
Many in the community have argued that this new requirement that couples must notify the Registrar-General at the same time the notary is notified undermines the concept of a ceremony, but I do not think the change is that significant. People who marry must give notice of their intention to marry to a celebrant, who is obliged to give to the Registrar-General particulars of the wedding and the parties involved. In the case of a civil partnership, all that will be required is that the Registrar-General be notified when the notary is notified.
In balance, it really is just a question of timing. It is of great concern to me that the opportunity to make one of the most significant advances in obtaining equality for gay and lesbian people in the ACT may be put at risk because of a need to continue railing against the commonwealth’s attitude towards maintaining a distinction between a marriage and a civil partnership. I think we need to remind ourselves that there are many people depending on this Assembly to make sure that these reforms are not lost.
The choice is a simple and clear one: consolidate the significant gains that the agreement with the commonwealth ensures, or risk having all of those gains put at risk. The risk to the recognition of gay and lesbian rights is real. The commonwealth government has maintained its position and its intention quite plainly and I cannot be confident that any further compromise on this issue is available.
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