Page 5736 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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In doing so, I believe that the federal government have abused their power in this debate. We all know that they have the power. We all understand the function of a veto. But wielding that power dishonestly, silently, without being clear about under what terms and conditions they would use it, has been a despicable abuse of power by Mr Rudd and his Attorney General, Robert McClelland.
Yesterday, I received a two-line email from the attorney informing me that the commonwealth would not declare its position in regard to a veto until after the outcome of today’s Assembly debate. Why on earth not? Why not be clear about the terms and conditions under which that veto would be applied? At least then we could have a clear understanding of the differences between us and how important those differences were to the commonwealth. But the truth is that the federal ALP government did not want to have to articulate either its reasons, because they were shoddy, or its intent. The latter, I would suspect, was purely in order to protect its political relationship with its ACT colleagues because, while we all know there are disagreements between the ACT and the commonwealth on this issue, it pays the federal ALP to keep it off the front pages of the national newspapers.
Still, here we are. Self-government: this is the realilty. At the end of the day, the Greens have decided we cannot play politics with the lives of same-sex couples in the ACT. Their rights must come first. At the end of the day we have managed to shift the ground considerably in terms of how same-sex couples are able to create their relationships. We are proud that two key aspects of our legislation have been allowed to stand: the role of a registered civil notary in the ceremonies and the role for ceremonies to be part of what creates the relationship. These are real and tangible outcomes that will actually make a difference to same-sex couples in the ACT.
Of course, the Greens will continue to work in all parliaments to eliminate ongoing discrimination against same-sex and transgender couples, not just in the field of relationship creation but across the board of gender issues that affect a range of people in a range of different ways.
Turning briefly to the practical effect of the government’s amendments, this bill amends the existing provisions of the Civil Partnerships Act 2008 that relate to relationships entered into under section 6A(b) of the act. Section 6A(b) provides for couples to enter into a civil partnership by making a declaration before a notary at a ceremony.
The current process to enter a civil partnership through a ceremony is a three-step process. Firstly, a couple must give a notice of intent to their civil partnership notary. Secondly, the couple hold a ceremony where they enter a civil partnership by making a declaration before the civil partnership notary and witnesses. Thirdly, the notary returns to the office of the Registrar-General with the witness statements from the ceremony and has the relationship registered. The changes being discussed will mean a three-step process is retained, but there are some subtle but important differences.
The new process will commence by a couple giving a notice of intent to the notary and the Registrar-General. Secondly, the couple will hold a ceremony where they make a declaration of civil partnership before a notary and witnesses. Thirdly, the
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