Page 4226 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015
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birth register. When the birth certificate is reissued, the name at birth is replaced with the new name. This has caused considerable distress to those who want to retain their birth name on their birth certificate. The proposed amendments to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 will allow local residents who choose to marry overseas to change their name officially without their original surname being removed from their birth certificate. The new surname can be noted on the back of the birth certificate.
I am pleased to say that the bill will continue the good work advanced by the government through the Beyond the binary report and the consequent amendments in terms of recognising gender diversity. It contains amendments that will remove gender-specific terms in relation to parentage in both the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act and the Parentage Act. The terms “mother” and “father” are replaced with “birth parent” and “other parent”. Importantly, these changes do not prevent the terms “mother” and “father” being used on birth certificates. Parents can still choose to use these terms if they prefer.
As gender diversity has become more widely acknowledged there is more evidence to demonstrate that parents are gender diverse. For example, in 2013-14, Medicare reported 54 instances of individuals who identified as male giving birth in Australia. The emergence of gender diverse parents means that gendered terms such as “mother” and “father” are no longer true of all parents. Removing gender-specific terms from the legislation recognises the gender diversity of parents and removes any mislabelling of parents during the registration process. This continues the commitment the ACT has made to create a socially inclusive community by expanding the legal recognition of gender diversity in our community.
In another amendment that will support legal recognition of gender diversity, the bill creates a new identity document for the ACT, called a recognised details certificate. Canberrans who do not possess an ACT birth certificate currently have no way of having a change of gender identity formally recognised by the ACT government. The ACT government is unable to alter birth certificates issued in another jurisdiction and changing a birth certificate in the jurisdiction of birth can be difficult. In some cases, another jurisdiction may have different eligibility requirements, such as surgery, that the applicant does not meet. In other cases it can be difficult for applicants to produce the necessary evidence that they have changed their gender, particularly if their birth certificate was issued overseas.
Recognised details certificates will officially acknowledge people who are residents in the ACT, but were not born in the ACT, and who meet the criteria for change of sex in the territory. Importantly, the evidence that will be required to be eligible for a certificate will be similar to that required for a person applying to have their sex changed on their birth certificate—that is, a statutory declaration by a doctor or a psychologist certifying that the person has received appropriate clinical treatment for alteration of their sex or that they are an intersex person.
Finally, the bill contains amendments that will change the proof of age card to the proof of identity card. I have had representations from some Canberrans, notably older Canberrans, that the proof of age card does not feel appropriate to them. This
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