Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will not prolong this but the minister is obviously ducking and weaving. It is open to interpretation by whom, for goodness sake? She ultimately means that a court will have to interpret it. The proper way for legislation to go through this parliament is to make it clear to the courts what is intended. If the government intends to cover same-sex partners it should say so. That is what Senator Murray’s amendment does and that is why we should support it and that is why I hope the Labor Party will support it as well.

It is not just sloppy; in this case the minister herself is saying that we will leave it open to a court to determine what we mean by the words we have here. You should not do that; you should be very clear about it and leave nobody in a position where they have to pay lots of money to get a good barrister to go to a court and argue that words that are not clear mean such and such. We should make it clear for them. If the government intends this to cover same-sex partners then it should support this amendment and so should the opposition.