Civil partnerships for gay and lesbian Australians

After a quick holiday - almost a month I guess - let's get going again. I'm feeling refreshed and highly opinionated - and raring to blog!

I've got lots to say... "Wow - yay!" to the anti-whaling movement. "Oh my god!" to the paid-maternity discussion. (You know that we're the only OECD country other than America not to have paid maternity, don't you?)

But first - a small disappointment.

I started my special list of "Things that make me happy" in this blog, some time ago - but it wouldn't be right to only list the positives. Let it not be said that I won't see the negatives in Rudd's rules. I have always supported Kevin's attempts to keep the people happy, in the name of politics - if it means taking power and using it to slowly guide our country back towards the liberalism, openness and fairness that we all deserve. But this time, I feel, his actions are not directed by politics or by the dictates of liberalism and fairness - they're formed in religious bigotry.

Yes, that's right - it's not all sunshine and roses in the new Labor-governed Australia. Even Kevin with his left-wing religious leanings can disappoint sometimes.

Of course, we'd all rather liberal religious attitudes to Liberal religious attitudes... but even lefty-pinko Christian politicians, it turns out, draw the line a pink civil partnerships.

For those of you who want to know the details - the ACT Government wants to introduce legislation allowing gay couples to enter into civil partnerships and have an official ceremony. The Territory's first attempt to pass similar legislation was quashed by the former Federal Government and the new Government has raised concerns about some aspects of the proposal.

For details of the previous bill - see the a.c.t. legislation register.

Of course I would like to see what the government's "concerns" are - but it doesn't sound like the language of a government who wants to find a solution, and change a few details - it sounds like the language of a government who wants to squash the legislation.

That's a guess - and hopefully I'm wrong - but Kevin has made his position on civil partnerships clear before. Let's be clear on this - this isn't a broken promise - this isn't something surprising or contradictory with Kevin's stated position... it's just a shame. It's the first time I can honestly say I the new government hasn't gone far enough in reversing the Howard governments position of social conservativism and divisiveness.

More than 100 people rallied outside the Legislative Assembly this afternoon in support of the planned new laws. The ACT's Attorney General Simon Corbell told the crowd the issue is as much about recognising gay relationships as it is about self-government. "As a community, we should be able to decide these things for ourselves," he said.

That may be so (as the federalism debate continues under the new government) - but the question remains as to whether the rest of Australia would also like to see the introduction of civil partnerships for gay and lesbian relationships. Does the federal government actually have a "mandate" to try and direct the ACT government in its law making? Of course, I realise that some of Australia's population won't be in support of these ideas - but is it at all clear that a representative government actually has enough support from the negative side to use its power to sway this debate?

I propose having a poll. On this page (and on all my blog pages) you should be able to find a poll, on the right-hand side that I have designed. It is designed, I hope, to allow everyone to have their say and make their position on the topic clear.

If I get enough respondents, I will forward the results to Kevin's office and to the minister in charge of the issue (as well as the appropriate ACT government members - for use in their assessment of the situation)*. If you believe strongly in this topic please forward a link to this page to as many people as you can.

If you think I've left an option off the list of possible answers, please feel free to say so in the comments on this page. I will try to incorporate your ideas and combine the results of all versions of the poll, if I end up changing the options later.

Let's show them what modern Australia really thinks on this issue.


* and with Kevin's recent creation of an office to read petitions - we actually have a chance of having it listened to :-) More about that later.