Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was my intention to speak today in the adjournment debate on the issue of discrimination against same-sex couples, based on the experience of a couple in my electorate who also happen to be friends of mine. I hope still to get the opportunity to do that, but I want to speak today about my sense of outrage, as a member of the Australian parliament, as a citizen of Canberra and as an Australian, on hearing that the Attorney-General, Mr Ruddock, is contemplating overriding the ACT civil unions legislation.

The first thing I want to say, before I go to the detail, is that the key question everybody in Canberra will be asking is: what is Senator Humphries going to do about this outrageous, high-handed, arrogant, offensive proposal by the Attorney-General? It will require legislation for the Commonwealth to override the ACT measure, and I want to know whether Senator Humphries will vote for that legislation. It is fundamental to the interests of the ACT and to the many citizens who are constituents of his, mine, the member for Canberra and Senator Lundy, that he clearly indicates now that he will vote against any legislation that will override this measure.

I am outraged on the question of the undermining of the rights of the ACT government to make decisions like this. I accept without qualification the constitutional situation—that the Commonwealth has power to make laws for the governance of the Territory, and that it can make laws about this matter as well. But this is not an issue on which I believe that power should be exercised. I do not want to hide behind that constitutional nicety or territory rights, because I am not a great states rights person. I want to say unequivocally that I support the civil unions legislation. I welcome the fact that the ACT government has introduced it. I am delighted that it is going to be passed through the assembly, and I hope that we can find a way for the legislation to be effected in the ACT, notwithstanding the outrageous and offensive objections of the Attorney-General.

It is very hard to actually make sense of what the Attorney-General’s concern is. It is particularly hard for the Chief Minister to make sense of it, because he still has not received the letter, a copy of which the Attorney-General has given to the Canberra Times. It appeared on the front page of the Canberra Times, and the Chief Minister knows about it because the Canberra Times gave him a copy of the letter that had been given to them by the Attorney-General. But the Chief Minister has not received it yet. How arrogant, high handed and darned incompetent can you get. It is no wonder the immigration portfolio was left in such a mess by this arrogant, high-handed, incompetent individual.

The Attorney-General is saying that in some way the ACT government is saying that civil unions are the equivalent of marriages. Let me quote from the second reading speech by the Chief Minister:

A civil union is not marriage but will be treated in the same way as marriage ... It will give couples functional equality under ACT law with married couples but does not replace or duplicate marriage.

It is different. If the Attorney-General’s only concern is that civil celebrants are going to be used to perform these civil union ceremonies, that is a ridiculous, narrow-minded concern, but one that is easily overcome. The Chief Minister simply has to duplicate the process by setting up an ACT register of civil union celebrants. That would be very simple. I have not discussed it with the Chief Minister, but it is obvious that he would be prepared to do that to achieve the bigger purpose.

I will come back on another occasion to speak about the outrageous, ongoing federal discrimination against gay couples. Everything where the recognition of the relationship would work to their advantage is not recognised. Where it works to their disadvantage, it is recognised. I will have something to say about that on another occasion. Today I just want to say—on behalf of not just all the gay and lesbian couples in my electorate but all the people that I represent—that this is arrogant, high-handed, offensive behaviour by the Attorney-General. I hope Senator Humphries does not support it. I hope the parliament does not support it. I hope it never happens. I support the civil union legislation and I hope that it can have effect as soon as possible.

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