Andrew Barr

Speech on the Civil Partnership Amendment Bill No. 2

Submitted by Andrew Barr on 10 December 2009 - 6:15pm
 
Thursday 10 December 2009
 
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, clearly this is not a place that we would like to be and there is a sense of déjà vu that here we are again, in 2009, being forced to compromise, again, on this issue.
 
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 progressive law reform is a difficult and complex process and as Mr Rattenbury said, it is often one that comes in small steps, rather than giant leaps and revolutions.
 
I think it is worth reflecting at this point, the final sitting day of 2009, on a decade of law reform in this territory and indeed at the federal level and it is worth taking a deep breath and observing that across the ACT and the federal legal sphere, we have seen nearly 140 to 150 laws that did discriminate against gay and lesbian Canberrans and Australians, altered to ensure equality.  
 
This has been a long and difficult process and a lot of progressive legislators 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 strive for a more progressive and tolerant Australia we would proud of, but nonetheless, as 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 today.
 
However, we are locking in what I believe is a significant reform and we will be leading the nation in relation to recognising all loving and caring relationships, and 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 and it certainly remains my hope that a jurisdiction like Tasmania might be able to go that one step further and provide the ACT with the constitutional protection that 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 relation to how we should respond to the commonwealth’s position.
 
I would just like to share a couple of those views with the Assembly. Some were directed to me personally but I think are equally shared amongst all progressive legislators in this place.
 
I will not mention the names of the individuals but I received a number of emails that broadly went to the point of thanking me and indeed I suppose all progressive members in this place for showing leadership on the legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
 
One email I received goes as follows:
 
“As someone who has been in a same-sex partnership for 13 years, it is so heartening to see you in the media talking about the importance of recognising that there is a diversity of relationships in contemporary society and that they deserve appropriate recognition. Each time you speak out on this matter you say to gay and lesbian people, particularly young people, that their preferences are valued, that their relationships are and will be valued and that there are valid pathways to pursue.
 
Of course, one day I would like to see in the ACT, if not in all of Australia civil unions for gay and lesbian people. But until then I believe what the ACT government has done recently along with the ACT Greens is as good as can be expected within the current Federal political context and I do not believe pushing the Rudd government any further would produce a better result at this point in time.
 
Thank you again, it is so wonderful to see the ACT being a part of the solution on this matter.”
 
Others have observed that it is better to accept the compromise rather than losing the ceremonies altogether and have encouraged us to preserve what is in this amendment bill and have said that everything is not going to become right and equal in the world overnight as much as we would like it to.
 
The small steps are important steps and they would rather have than keep the ACT Civil Partnership legislation than have it completely overturned.
 
Others send an interesting message to GLTBI Canberrans:
 
“not to fight the local ACT government, they are on your side.”
 
I agree and endorse that point and ask activists to think about who is not and lobby and petition them instead.
 
Another email to me to say:
 
“Whilst I would strongly desire the removal of all legislative discrimination I think it is best that we get incremental change rather than throw out the existing legislation altogether and yet again not be allowed to have our relationships formally recognised in the law”.
 
I would also just like to read into Hansard what I believe are some very sensible comments from Rodney Croome, a well-known Tasmanian activist, and then talk a little about how these comments need to be reflected in this debate.
 
Rodney wrote that:
 
“What is often overlooked in this debate are the feelings of those people who are already in civil partnerships. Are the legal relationships of those couples who have had partnership ceremonies under the ACT’s previous administrative arrangements less binding, less dignified, less equal or less important than those who have had ceremonies after the recently enacted statutory provisions?
 
If these provisions are to be amended to provide for fully legalised rather than legally binding ceremonies will the relationships be of less value?
 
And the answer to that is clearly not.
 
His advice to decision makers in the ACT was to look at the issues that we face through the prism of all of the couples it will affect, to be aware of the impact that the constantly changing legal landscape provides.
 
It does not mean that we should not advocate for change but it does mean that we should do so in a way which is respectful of ceremonies that have gone before those that may yet come to pass.
 
The issue is ultimately about respecting and affirming loving couples and the choices they make.
 
“When advocates for ceremonies forsake that high ground they lose everything”
 
I think those comments and those emails effectively sum up the challenges and dilemmas that we, in the Labor Party locally, are faced with when we are confronted with this difficult choice.
 
I would have to say just as a personal reflection, that the process that was in place in the ACT prior to these legislations has its somewhat amusing elements.
 
Having had the experience of going out to the Registrar of Births Deaths Marriages and Civil Partnerships and pressing the button in the waiting room and getting ticket B136 with Anthony by my side, in the lunch break before Question Time on the sitting day, because we had forgotten to take into account that it would take 24 hours with which to produce the certificate for our civil partnership, I would say that there are some elements of the registration process that perhaps are a little bit clunky and I certainly will be talking with my colleague, the Attorney-General on how we might be able to improve that in the future.
 
Anyway, I returned the next day and got ticket B132 to pick up the certificate but I was very pleased that we were able to have that in time for an important celebration for Anthony and I on the Saturday. And whilst we were not able to benefit from a formal ceremonial element to our commitment, nonetheless it did not detract significantly from what was a really special day for us.
 
I suppose though for many of our guests the thing that they did comment on the day was there just was that one element that was missing. They did not get to see that formal commitment between the two of us, by way of an official ceremony, and that clearly would have just topped off what was an almost close to perfect a day as we could have hoped for.
 
So, having said that, I turn to the future now and I think we can be very proud of this Assembly and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Rattenbury and each and every member of the parliamentary Greens party for their support for this legislative reform process and also over the last six or seven years.
 
The Greens have voted with the Labor Party on these matters consistently and I would like to acknowledge that, whether we have been in a majority government situation or in a minority and have needed their support and indeed that of the Australian Democrats when they were represented in this chamber through Ros Dundas.
 
As we look forward I still think there is a possibility for further reform in this area and I do look to Tasmania. Who knows after their election next year there may be a similar governing arrangement than we have here in the ACT. I am sure my Tasmanian colleagues are not looking forward to that given the history in that jurisdiction, it has been a little bit more confrontational than we have seen here in the ACT, but nonetheless it does present an opportunity for progressive parties in Tasmanian politics to look at the issue in the context of their jurisdiction.
 
And there is no doubt that having an original state legislate something in advance of what we have in the ACT would provide that constitutional protection for the Territory to be able to move forward again in this area and as Mr Rattenbury said, there may be the possibility in the ACT to revisit this matter at some point in the future.
 
But for now, I think we should celebrate what has been achieved. I certainly wish all couples who will take advantage of this important progressive piece of legislation all the very best for their commitment ceremonies.
 
It is a really wonderful thing and I suppose just in the context of the experience for Anthony and I what did make it that little bit different was the struggle that was involved in getting there in the first place. But even being able to have a civil partnership, whether it was by way of registry or by way of a formal celebration with a celebrant, it was a significant achievement that only three places in this country enable or allow to occur.
 
So I think we ought to, as I say, take a deep breath and be very proud about what has been achieved in the ACT.
 
Let us look forward to this jurisdiction continuing to be a leader in progressive law reform and to show the rest of the nation that the world does not come to an end with these reforms, that heterosexual marriage continues and that extending that right to same sex couples, to all loving committed relationships, in fact enhances relationships in our society. It does not detract from them and I think in the end, that demonstrated experience in the ACT will be there for the rest of Australia to see.
 
Finally, what I would call for today is for Labor governments elsewhere in this country to at least move to the position that the ACT has adopted, if not further.
 
Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.
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