freediver
Gold Member
Offline
www.ozpolitic.com
Posts: 47043
At my desk.
|
Federal Govt to remove 100 discriminatory laws this year
http://buggery.org/2008/04/30/federal-govt-to-remove-100-discriminatory-laws-this-year/
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has confirmed that the federal government will go ahead with a raft of legal reforms for same-sex relationships. One hundred laws have been identified for change, including social security, taxation, health, superannuation and aged care.
The A-G has stressed that the law reforms will not change access to IVF or adoption and will not (surprise!) change the Marriage Act to enable same-sex marriage, and it’s unclear so far whether same-sex couples will gain access to the Family Court for custody and property disputes.
Nonetheless, these are exciting, sweeping and long-awaited reforms which should make gay and lesbian Australians very happy.
There had been some concern that the reforms, which had been promised by the ALP, would be shelved due to budgetary constraints, however the A-G has today confirmed that the needed funding (apparently something like $400 million) will be made available.
http://goodqualityrant.blogspot.com/2008/04/bunch-of-thugs.html
After promising to legislate against discrimination against same-sex couples, Rudd and company have pulled a Ruddock and decided to continue the illegitimate blocking of ACT civil unions legislation.
"Attorney-General Robert McClelland says the Commonwealth remains opposed to ACT moves to allow same sex couples to hold a formal ceremony to recognise their relationships."
"Mr McClelland says he would prefer to see a registration scheme for same-sex couples similar to the models adopted in Tasmania and Victoria.
"Consistently with Labor Party policy we made it clear before the election that the Government regards marriage as being between a man and a woman and we don't support any measures that seek to mimic that," he said."
Laughable. The policy seems to be "you can have civil unions, but you must do it QUIETLY. No formal events." Oh? What are they going to do if people decide to have a big celebration on the day they 'register'? Sick Bjelke-Petersen on them?
What's the real motivation here? Because I'm not convinced it's the ALP's core religious belief in the sanctity of marriage. Political cowardice is everywhere in Rudd's Government. They're happy to stand by and let inflation run out of control, declining to rescind any of the numerous and inflationary bonuses Howard commissioned, and they're happy to pander a little to the quiet middle class bigotries. You know the sort I'm talking about -protective mothers who have 'homosexuality' on the list of things they should be protecting their kids from. Not the raging bigots that Pauline loves, mind you, but bigots nontheless-people who, as QP has said, don't want to be confronted with the image of two men or two women
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2008/04/sweeping-reforms-for-australias-gays.html
The Australian government has announced over 100 reforms giving gay couples almost the same rights as straight couples - with the notable exception of marriage.
The move has been welcomed by LGBT groups but has drawn criticism over the refusal to legalise 'gay marriage'. Under the changes, gay couples in long-term relationships would be treated the same as married couples on issues such as taxation, pensions and welfare payments. Attorney General Robert McClelland announced that the Labour government would introduce legislation next month to remove same-sex discrimination from some 100 laws.
The Netherlands was the first country to allow same-sex marriage in 2001. Same-sex marriages are also recognized in Belgium, Spain, Canada and South Africa. The first same-sex union in modern history with government recognition was obtained in Denmark in 1989.
Civil unions, civil partnership, domestic partnership, unregistered partnership/ unregistered co-habitation or registered partnerships offer varying amounts of the benefits of marriage and are available in:
Andorra, Colombia Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Hungary Iceland Israel Luxembourg New Zealand Norway Portugal Slovenia South Africa Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Uruguay.
They are also available in some parts of Argentina, Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Mexico, the U.S. states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state, and the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.).
In the United Kingdom, civil partnerships have identical legal status to a marriage, and partners gain all the same benefits and associated legal rights; ranging from tax exemptions and joint property rights, to next-of-kin status and shared parenting responsibilities.
|