Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like many in this place, I have relatives and numerous friends in same-sex relationships. Families come in many shapes and sizes, and love between consenting adults is to be cherished and honoured. I have always believed that we should end discrimination against same-sex couples. I have always taken the view in internal ALP fora that we need to end the egregious and outrageous discrimination in relation to taxation, social security, health, aged care, family law and employment. I do not believe that there is a community consensus on this issue of same-sex marriage and I do not believe many in our community are ready for same-sex marriage, for personal, religious, philosophical and traditional reasons. I was pleased when the previous Labor opposition adopted the attitude it did in relation to the amendments to the Marriage Act and supported the position that we took at the national conference in relation to marriage being between a man and a woman. That is based on the classic Hyde definition of the 19th century, which Justice Brennan of the High Court adopted and recognised in the case of the Queen v L. It is the position adopted in the Family Law Act as well.

That said, it took a Labor government, of which I am proud to be a member, to end more than 100 instances of discrimination against same-sex couples in federal law. It took a Labor government to go beyond the 58 instances which were identified in the June 2007 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report Same-sex: same entitlements. When it came to power, Labor identified more than 100 statutes and provisions which discriminated by using the term ‘member of the opposite sex’ in legislation relating to aged care, superannuation, child care, Medicare—including PBS—pensions et cetera. These are all basics that opposite gender couples are legally entitled to and take for granted. It was a Labor government which ended this outrageous and egregious discrimination against same-sex couples.

The federal Labor government does support a nationally consistent framework for relationship recognition to be implemented by the states and territories—again, a position adopted at the national conference of the ALP. Victoria, the ACT, New South Wales and Tasmania have established relationship recognition schemes, and relationships recognised under these schemes are now recognised in a wide range of Commonwealth laws. The federal Labor government will continue to encourage the states and territories to do this. We support also—and we took this to the last election—enactment of legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender status and the removal of such discrimination from Commonwealth legislation. During the election, the Gillard Labor government confirmed it would be introducing legislation to protect against discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender status as part of its review in consolidation of federal antidiscrimination laws into a single act. We will of course undertake consultation in relation to these matters with stakeholders on the proposed single antidiscrimination law.

I commend Attorney-General Robert McClelland, who carried a community consensus in relation to so many areas. These issues of discrimination persisted for a long time in areas of child support, family law, employment and taxation, making sure that same-sex couples felt less part of the Australian community. These forms of discrimination were done away with, making very clear that rights were being extended, including joint social security and veterans entitlements, child support, employment entitlements, superannuation, workers compensation, inheritance rights and the ability to file a joint tax return to gain the same tax rebates as married couples. These were important Labor reforms because it is Labor which has had a long history of ending discrimination. It took the election of a Labor government to do this. The coalition had not the wisdom nor the determination to end this discrimination against same-sex couples. I commend the member for Throsby’s amendment and commit myself to making sure that the gay and lesbian community in my electorate feel part of the electorate of Blair and that they always feel loved, cherished and honoured.

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