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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1283 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

Writing on the resistance to same-sex relationships in American society, Herma Hill Kay, Professor of Law at the University of California Berkley, made an observation that applies equally here. It reads:

Just as the existence of racially mixed families once challenged the legitimacy of white supremacy in ways that strengthened the social fabric in the United States, so may the contemporary example of stable same-sex families ultimately lead to a richer and more diverse social and cultural life.

Mr Speaker, I am pleased that the state and territory Attorneys-General have taken a stand against the Commonwealth. They have been unambiguous in stating that the Commonwealth, by not accepting a reference of power in relation to same-sex de facto couples, is discriminating against same-sex couples. It is time for members of this Assembly to make an equally unambiguous statement about where we stand on the issue. I note that the Leader of the Opposition has, in the past, rejected the attitudes currently being displayed by the Commonwealth.

Mr Humphries, in a speech in the Legislative Assembly on 12 October 1993, said:

It is one thing to be judgmental about some of the relationships and the lifestyles we are talking about here; it is quite another to say that people who adopt those lifestyles deserve no protection from the law. Disapproval of married couples, indeed, of homosexual relationships, is not a pretext for saying that such people have no rights under our law.

Mrs Cross spoke, last sitting, about the importance of raising awareness of discrimination issues generally, and assisting community education. I agree wholeheartedly with her statement, in which she said:

Discrimination in any form, because of individual, personal attributes is an anathema in society.

It is worth looking more closely at the record of eliminating discrimination here in the ACT. In 1994, the Assembly passed legislation that was acknowledged around Australia-and in other jurisdictions-as ground-breaking legislation in the area of providing access to equality in property rights for people in same-sex relationships.

The subject of property rights for persons in same-sex relationships has been an issue of concern around Australia for many years. Indeed, the issue of property rights for people in relationships who are not married, regardless of the sexual nature of the relationship, is a problem.

The previous ACT Labor government sought to address this injustice with a very innovative legislative approach-that was to create the concept of a domestic relationship which would cover the issue of same-sex property rights.

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