Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Australian Greens amendment (2) on sheet 5068:

(2)

Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 31), at the end of the Schedule, add:4 Subsection 44-11(1) (at the end of the definition of member of a couple) Add:; and (c)         includes a same sex partner.

This amendment deals with the definition of a couple. It goes to the issue of assets testing before going into a nursing home and whether or not the family home is considered to be excluded from the assessment of the value of the assets. As I went through in my speech in the second reading debate, that deals with the issue of a partner. The definition of a partner includes the reference to a member of a couple. Then, when you go to the definition of ‘member of a couple’, the two clauses which are there deal with, firstly, a marriage relationship, while the second clause deals with a marriage-like relationship. To my reading of that definition of ‘member of a couple’, it could include a same-sex couple. That was not clear. The intention of this amendment is to make clear that it should include a same-sex partner.

Perhaps I could ask the minister about that issue—although I think he answered it partly before. From my reading of the current definition of ‘member of a couple’, to me that definition could include a same-sex partner. It does not make it clear. It does not rule it out. It is ‘a marriage-like relationship’. To me, that could include a same-sex partner. That was not clear and the intention of this amendment is to make it clear that it should include a same-sex partner. But, if the minister were to indicate what the current government reading of the existing definition of ‘member of a couple’ is—whether or not as it currently stands it is considered by the government to include a same-sex partner—that would be appreciated.