Civil Unions Act 2006

The Civil Unions Act 2006 (ACT) was an Act of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly which established civil unions for same-sex, opposite-sex or transgender couples that allowed for equal legal recongnition with marriage under territory law. The act attracted much public attention and sparked a conflict between the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth.

The act was subject to Commonwealth antagonism since drafting, with the Commonwealth claiming the ACT was attempting to legislate marriage, a matter which the Commonwealth has exclusive constitutional power over. The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, stated that "the legislation, by its own admission, is an attempt to equate civil unions with marriage and we don't find that acceptable." This position was further confirmed by Senator Nick Minchin's comments on behalf of the Liberal Party, "...it is clear that the intent and purpose of that act is to equate a civil union to a marriage. In that sense we regarded it as repugnant." (verified by Hansard documents) Following the law's enactment on 9 June 2006, the Attorney-General of Australia announced that the Commonwealth would move to overrule it. On 13 June 2006, the Federal Executive Council instructed the Governor-General of Australia to disallow the Act.

The disallowance of the Civil Unions Act was criticised heavily by opposition parties and civil rights advocates, and on 15 June 2006 a motion was moved in the Australian Senate to overturn it and reinstate the legislation. This motion was defeated 32-30 by the majority Coalition members, despite Gary Humphries crossing the floor.

The ACT will now look to create a new act, similar to its Civil Unions Act called the "civil partnership" law. In a statement by Australian Capital Territory Attorney-General Simon Corbell: "It's still our intention to give the same level of recognition provided for in the Civil Unions Act," [1].

The Australian Capital Territory at the moment includes legal recognition for same-gender couples on; Distribution of property and finances in the event of a separation, inheritance in the event of death. Currently the ACT has enacted laws relating to same-sex adoption. The ACT Government announced plans for civil unions to be introduced from early 2006 and proposed legislation in March. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said that the enactment of the bill for civil unions "will not satisfy the Commonwealth"[2] and it would intervene unless the bill was changed. The Stanhope Government acceded to his wishes, and changed the specified parts of the bill accordingly. However, according to the Attorney-General, other changes were made which circumvented these changes. The Civil Unions Act 2006 was passed on 11 May 2006. On 6 June 2006, Ruddock announced plans to request the Governor-General disallow the law on the basis it was ultra vires the territory's self-government act. The ACT enacted the legislation on 9 June 2006 and the Governor-General disallowed it on 13 June 2006 on the instruction of the Federal Executive Council. In December 2006 the Australian Capital Territory government indicated that it would proceed with new legislation recognising same sex unions based on the United Kingdom civil partnership laws.[3], [4], [5][6]. In February 2007 civil partnerships is blocked again [7], [8], Same-sex union Bill blocked again February 06, 2007 09:38 pm, [9] and the Federal Attorney General indicated that the Commonwealth would oppose this new legislation. For the time being since 1994 there has always been the "Domestic Relationship Act 1994" [10]

See also

• Status of same-sex marriage

References

• Walsh, Kerry-Anne. "Taking the liberty to tell us how we should live our lives" The Sun-Herald June 11 2006: page 31
• Humphries, David. "ACT vows to try again on same-sex union rights" The Sydney Morning HeraldJune 14 2006