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

I thank the minister for her response. The Greens do not in any way want to tie up this process. We have been advocating that this legislation be passed as quickly as possible, and we will continue to work with the government on this. We are disappointed, though, that this definition was not taken on board much earlier on.

Question negatived.

I move amendment (3) on sheet 5615:

(3)    Schedule 2, omit section 22B, substitute:

22B Registered relationships

        (1)    For the purposes of paragraph 22A(a), a person is in a registered relationship with another person if the relationship between the persons is:

             (a)    registered under a prescribed law of a State or Territory as a prescribed kind of relationship; or

             (b)    registered in a foreign country where, under the local law, the relationship was, at the time when it was registered, recognised as valid.

        (2)    To avoid doubt, paragraph 22B(1)(b) does not provide for the recognition of marriages under foreign law which are recognised under Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961.

This amendment is in relation to recognition of overseas formalised relationships. I refer back to the point that the government’s own proposition supports section 22B of the Acts Interpretation Act, which is dedicated to registered relationships in Australia. What we are trying to do in amendment (3) is to say that if we are prepared to recognise those relationships in Australia then we should be prepared to recognise those that are registered overseas as well. This amendment will allow the government to prescribe types of relationships created in a foreign country under local laws as recognised as a type of registered relationship under the Acts Interpretation Act and in other locations.