Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the amendments to be agreed to.

Senate amendments (1) to (109) amend schedules 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws—General Law Reform) Bill 2008. The amendments also amend clause 2 of the bill, which provides the commencement dates of the schedule to the bill. These amendments were proposed by the government in the Senate. A number of these amendments implement recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in relation to the bill, and I would like to commend the work of that committee in respect of this matter. These amendments will make a number of changes to those schedules of the bill, including amending references in the bill to ‘the product of a relationship’ definition of child to instead refer to ‘a child of a person’ within the meaning of the Family Law Act 1975 and removing amendments relating to the concepts of ‘legal responsibility’ and ‘custody, care and control’. The amendments also remove the amendment inserting a definition of ‘de facto partner’ into the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws—Superannuation) Bill 2008 will now insert this definition into the Acts Interpretation Act.

The passage of this legislation—which I assume will take place, given the opposition has indicated its consent—will complete the process of removing discrimination from a wide variety of Commonwealth laws identified by an extensive audit of those laws as a result of considerable work by the department and the Senate committee to which I have referred. I would also like to acknowledge the tremendous work undertaken by the Attorney-General’s Department and senators and members of the House who have made a constructive contribution to the debate. At the end of the day, I think it is quite a significant event for this parliament to confirm that at long last we have removed discrimination against same-sex couples from Commonwealth laws.

Question agreed to.

(Quorum formed)

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