Page 3299 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
public ceremony component of entering into a relationship. This represents an improvement on the existing civil partnership legislation. It is a relatively technical improvement but an undeniable improvement nonetheless. The bill continues a legislative trend of moving away from simple, paper-based registration schemes for same-sex relationships towards legally binding public ceremonies.
This is an important change. Same-sex relationships deserve more than quick and quiet, paper-based registration schemes. If couples want to, they should be able to hold a public ceremony, amongst friends and family, and have the law recognise that ceremony. The message that a paper-based process sends is that same-sex relationships are not something to be celebrated and marked publicly. The Greens strongly disagree with that message.
At the end of the day, this bill is actually a very simple one. It is about three things. It is about equality, it is about decency and it is about respect, and the Greens are proud to be supporting the bill today.
In supporting this bill, the Greens would like to make one clear point. The campaign for equality will not end when this bill passes, and there is more to be done. The movement towards equal marriage legislation at a federal level will continue. It is a longstanding part of our platform that we believe in amendment to the commonwealth Marriage Act. We will not lose sight of that goal.
In discussion and consultation with local groups who represent the GLBTIQ community, the Greens have received the message very clearly that while they support this bill, we should not be diverted from the national campaign. I would like to thank a number of the groups for sharing their views during the Greens’ consultation on this bill, and that includes the Parents, Family and Friends of Gay and Lesbian People, Equal Love Canberra and Australian Marriage Equality. In the event that the vote in federal parliament on equal marriage fails, the ACT Greens would expect the ACT to join the likes of Tasmania and South Australia and pass local marriage acts that are open to all loving adult couples.
While amendment of the commonwealth act is the ideal approach, we believe that if the vote were to fail, we should do what we can for residents of the ACT. We should also be open to passing a law that allows couples from other jurisdictions to come to the ACT to get married. Quite separate from the primary objective of equality, there are economic flow-on benefits that would accrue to the ACT from such a law.
I would like to conclude my brief remarks tonight by talking about the people that will benefit from this new act rather than the politics at a national level, because ultimately we here in this place should be basing our decisions on the benefits to people that will flow from today. My mind is taken back to a beautiful spring day in 2009 when two men, Warren McGaw and Chris Rumble, were among the first to make use of new and improved civil partnership legislation. We were at the rose gardens at Old Parliament House.
At that point in time, they were making use of legislative improvements made by the Greens, with the support of the ACT government, and I was very struck by that
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video