Page 1622 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2006
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Olympic Games because he thought it was a rerun of the 1956 Games. He is stuck in the past and would have all of our daughters enrolled in the CWA and send all of our sons off to be battle fodder. But as the legendary Gough Whitlam said, “It’s time.” It is time to give all citizens equal access before the law and to give equal recognition by the law, and it is time we said to our third-class citizens, “You are first-class citizens and you have the same rights as I do.”
This is good law. It is contemporary law and it is progressive. It should be a major plank to the removal of the insidious disease of discrimination, and it is. It will be heralded by right-minded people as legitimate recognition for all people. John Howard does not govern for all citizens equally, but Jon Stanhope does.
I very, very briefly commend the Chief Minister for his courage and his insistence on protecting the rights of people who have difficulty protecting their own rights. I acknowledge the courage of my erstwhile former chief of staff, the minister for education, Andrew Barr, for standing up in public and saying to people, “I do not give a bugger what you think. I am Andrew Barr and I am proud of it.” I was not, but he was.
I am very, very privileged to walk with people with courage who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in and stand up for their fellows. But I need to give you a little lighter side of the issue. My colleague Andrew Barr showed me an email that recently did the rounds. It talked about somebody being a self-confessed homosexual. “Self-confessed” is a terrible phrase. “Self-confessed” seems to indicate that it is a confession of a wrongdoing. How stupid is that?
Along with some members of the secretariat, I am a self-confessed Collingwood supporter. Have I been vilified? Yes, I have. Have I been discriminated against? Yes, I have. Have I been spat on? Yes, I have, by Carlton supporters. But am I ashamed of being a Collingwood supporter? No, I am not. It is a stupid phrase and it ought to be removed from the lexicon.
This is very serious legislation. On a more serious note: it is really about us saying that we walk with people in our community and we should be walking together. We should remove any barrier that prevents us walking together. This is legislation that recognises a commitment of two people, one to the other. How people do it should be left to them to determine. I am sick to death of the discrimination of the heart that has been perpetrated on these people. I congratulate the Chief Minister for bringing the bill forward.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Minister for the Arts) (8.40), in reply: In a speech almost a decade ago, the then Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, Alastair Nicholson, said that nothing could be more central to a definition of humanity than respect for the importance each of us places upon enduring relationships. From today in the ACT, it is my hope that respect will be extended to all couples entering into an enduring relationship without regard to their sexuality. From today, I hope our definition of humanity may be enhanced and our regard for fundamental bedrock relationships, the relationships that lie at the heart of strong families, may be strengthened. The step I hope we have the courage to take today will enhance the status of all of our enduring relationships and all of our families.
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