Page 2006 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
adopted may wish to include their birth parents as well as their adoptive parents on an integrated birth certificate.
I believe that the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2020 strikes the right balance between a range of important considerations. The bill allows a transgender, intersex or gender diverse person who is at least 16 years old to apply to the Registrar-General for changes to their given name and recorded sex without the need for parental consent. There is already, obviously, a precedent for entrusting 16-year-olds with significant decisions such as sexual consent. Therefore, it seems appropriate to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have greater agency over their identity.
As Minister Rattenbury outlined, applicants will need to satisfy the usual requirements for seeking a change of registered sex, including a certificate from a doctor or psychologist. This bill also provides young people aged between 12 and 15 years of age with an opportunity to make an application to the Registrar-General via the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal without parental consent. In exceptional circumstances a person under the age of 12 may also apply to the tribunal, but in those cases it is only with the consent of a parent or guardian.
In both instances the young person’s parents or guardians will be informed of the application so that they have an opportunity to voice their views on the child’s capacity to request this change, unless the tribunal determines that notifying the parents or guardians poses a risk to the child. This process recognises the importance of involving a child’s family as much as possible in what is a significant decision—a decision made by a young person who might benefit from having that extra support.
This bill also allows someone born and adopted in the ACT, and in some instances someone born overseas and adopted in the ACT, to apply to the Registrar-General for an integrated birth certificate formally recognising both their parents and their adoptive parents. Understandably, there are some conditions regarding privacy, but that is in line with the Adoption Act. Importantly, this process will not be time sensitive. An application can be made for a historical adoption or a future adoption.
For the people that the opportunities presented in the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2020 affect, the ability to have agency in this space will be significant. It is about choice and it is about respect: the choice to formally acknowledge a person’s identity, that person’s story, on their birth certificate. A decision to change a birth certificate is a deeply personal one. The two options this bill proposes are exactly that: they are options. It is entirely up to the individual to decide whether the relevant option is something that they wish to pursue. It is also about respect for an individual’s story, respect for an individual’s identity and respect for people, period. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video