Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

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SAME-SEX: SAME ENTITLEMENTS BILL 2007

                             Explanatory Memorandum

                SAME-SEX: SAME ENTITLEMENTS BILL 2007

                                    Senator Allison


On 21 June 2007, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)
released a report titled Same-Sex: Same Entitlements, which identified 58
Commonwealth laws that deny same-sex couples and their children basic financial
and work-related entitlements available to opposite-sex couples and their children.
The primary purpose of the Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Bill 2007 is to implement
the recommendations of that report.

The bill removes from Australian laws statutory provisions which encourage or allow
discrimination in areas including taxation, superannuation, employment and family
law against people in de facto relationships, on the grounds of their gender identity or
sexual orientation, with the intention of complying with Australia's obligations under
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

The bill establishes a definition of `de facto relationship' based largely on the
judgment of Powell J in Roy v Sturgeon (1986) 11 NSWLR 454 (at 458-9). Under the
definition, a de facto relationship is a relationship between two people living together
as a couple on a genuine domestic basis and may be between two people, irrespective
of gender. This definition is inserted into a series of acts and regulations, as outlined
in Schedule 1.

The bill also changes various laws to recognise the relationship between a child and
both parents in a same-sex relationship, with the purpose of protecting the best
interests of the child and complying with Australia's obligations under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.