Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleague the member for Cook for allowing me to jump ahead of him in the queue; I will be very brief. I strongly support the object of this legislation, the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws—Superannuation) Bill 2008. Discriminating against people on the basis of their sexual orientation is as abhorrent as discriminating against them on the basis of their religion or their race. That is why I was very proud, as a member of the Howard cabinet, in November last year—having never backed away from my commitment to equal treatment of and justice for people of the same sex who are living together—to be able to announce as part of our election commitment going into the election that the Howard government would recognise interdependency relationships for the purpose of eligibility for death benefits under the Australian government’s defined benefit superannuation schemes. That is essentially the object of the legislation in front of us today.

There has been criticism from the current government’s ranks about the proposal to have this legislation considered by a Senate committee. This is important legislation. It will affect the lives of thousands of people. It will affect the lives of children and it will affect, in very complicated ways, different claimants in the event of somebody dying and there being a range of claimants on their superannuation benefits. So this is an area of some complexity. Having, in my days as a lawyer, practised in the courts and dealt with de facto cases, I readily understand the complexity of some of these issues. Government members should not regard the referral of this matter to a Senate committee, if the Senate chooses to do that, as being in any way designed to frustrate, obstruct or delay the passage of this legislation with a view to delaying the granting of the benefits, the granting of the justice, that this legislation seeks to confer.

The key point that I wish to make now is that if the government wishes to have the benefits of this legislation available to people who would benefit from it, were it to be law today, it could choose to backdate the effective date of this legislation from whenever it chose. We know the tax laws and laws relating to superannuation are routinely—in fact, almost invariably—made effective as of the date of announcement. And it will take some months, often many months, for them to be passed into law. There is no reason why referral to a committee should defer the granting of the benefits that both sides of this House are committed to in terms of substance and in terms of the overall objective. That would ensure that those people who are concerned that they or their partner may die before this bill becomes the law of the land can have their concern set aside, and then the focus can be on the parliament getting the detail and the drafting right.

This is the challenge I throw down to the government: if you are serious about delivering justice to people in same-sex relationships then you can say, as the government, that it will be effective as of budget night, the day after the election or whatever date you choose. It is entirely a matter for the government. It is the government’s liability. It is its money. The only consequence would be that there would be an additional number of people, probably a small number, who would benefit from the additional cost in the scheme of the Commonwealth budget. Having regard to the great objective of equality and equal treatment of people regardless of their sexual orientation, the additional cost is not something that I would imagine would delay or deter members on either side of this House.

So let us stop the slur that suggests that the Liberal Party are homophobic or are trying to frustrate the object of this legislation. The Liberal Party are committed to this. We were committed to this at the time of the election; we are committed to it now. If the government are fair dinkum about it then they can make this change effective from whatever date they choose, and they could do so effective as of tonight, as of budget night or, as I said, as of the day after the election if they choose. Or—and here is a challenge—they could make it effective from the date I made the announcement on behalf of the Howard government which, as I recall, was 9 November 2007. I commend the bill to the House.

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