Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move amendment (2) on sheet 5615:

(2)    Schedule 2, omit section 22A, substitute:

22A References to couple relationships

                 For the purposes of a provision of an Act that is a provision in which couple relationship has the meaning given by this Act, a person is a partner of a couple relationship with another person (whether of the same sex or a different sex) if:

             (a)    the person is in a registered relationship with the other person under section 22B; or

             (b)    the person is in a de facto relationship with the other person under section 22C.

This amendment is designed to recognise that those people who enter into the formalised union of a registered relationship are not simply de facto partners; they are in a registered relationship. This amendment will use the term ‘couple relationship’ to refer to both de facto and registered relationships. It is not changing anything in relation to marriage. It is simply saying: let’s recognise under the ‘couple relationship’ definition that there are two different relationships—there are de facto relationships and then there are registered relationships, in which people have actually formalised their relationship.