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Baby Steps for Australian Parliament

Friday, 28 November 2008

In a defining act of solidarity and commitment towards achieving equality for the GLBTQ community, the Australian Senate passed laws on Monday that will see same-sex couples have many of the same rights as their straight counterparts.

The changes cover areas such as superannuation entitlements, social security, tax, aged care, health and employment. Same-sex couples will now be able to determine the recipient of their superannuation entitlements upon their death. These new laws now surpass over one hundred other pieces of legislation which the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) detailed as discriminatory toward same-sex couples in a recent report.

In an unprecedented action, the two Bills passed also provide for same-sex couples to be included in the legal definition for de-facto couples. Parliament stopped short however, of allowing same-sex couples to wed. The legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman remains unchanged.

"This is, indeed, historic legislation" stated openly gay Greens Party Senator Bob Brown, in response to the new laws. Brown is an unwavering advocate for same-sex rights, but has said that the laws passed on Monday are insufficient and that same-sex couples should be legally allowed to wed.

The legislation was also publicly supported by an openly gay Labor Senator Penny Wong, and Liberal Party senator George Brandis.