Page 5738 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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Greens, a relationship between a gay, a lesbian or a transgender couple is as valid in our eyes as any other relationship in this town and should be seen so both morally and in the eyes of the law.
I thank the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, for his discussions around this legislation, for taking us through the details, for explaining his perspective on it. It was not always an easy relationship and I have made my share of comments in venting my frustration on this. Nonetheless, I believe that we have come to a place that delivers us the best we can for the time being. The Greens will continue to push this agenda. My colleagues on the hill, in the federal parliament, have introduced legislation to bring equality into the federal Marriage Act. I think that is where the debate rests at this time, as the ability of the ACT to move forward remains constrained while we have the current Prime Minister. That does not mean that we will not keep working, but it is with some regret that I say that this is as far as we can get at this time.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (5.05): I guess it is with somewhat of a heavy heart and reluctantly that I stand to speak in support of this amendment. Like Mr Rattenbury and my colleague Mr Corbell, this clearly is not the place that we would like to be. I suppose there is a sense of deja vu that here we are again in 2009 being forced to compromise on this issue. I suppose it illustrates for me that these sorts of social gains are hard fought and that the desire to make a difference in your society and to achieve some sort of progressive law reform is a difficult and complex process. As Mr Rattenbury said, it is often one that comes in small steps, rather than giant leaps and revolutions.
However, I think it is worth at this point, on the final sitting day of 2009, reflecting on a decade of law reform in this territory and, indeed, at the federal level. It is probably worth taking a deep breath and observing that across the ACT and the federal legal sphere, we have seen combined nearly 140 to 150 laws that did discriminate against gay and lesbian Canberrans and Australians altered to ensure equality and that that has been a long and difficult process. A lot of progressive legislators have had to overcome some pretty irrational and conservative opposition through this decade to get to this point.
Today is not the outcome that many of us who have a view of a more progressive and tolerant Australia would be proud of. Nonetheless, as I think I have said before, what this Assembly passed last month represented an advance of four or five steps and the commonwealth are asking us to take one step back. But we are locking in what I believe is a significant reform. We will be leading the nation in relation to recognising loving and caring relationships. That is, at the end of the day, something to celebrate. I think it does place an onus now on other Australian states and territories to legislate to at least meet this point in the ACT. It certainly remains my hope that perhaps a jurisdiction like Tasmania might be able to go that one step further and provide the ACT with the constitutional protection that clearly we will need to see through what is ACT Labor Party policy and what is clearly the policy of the ACT Greens.
I, like I imagine many members in the Assembly, have had a variety of views presented to me as this debate has ebbed and flowed over the last month or so in
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