TIMELINE
Comparing the Coalition and Labor

1983

Labor Government forms under Bob Hawke

1984

Labor Government develops progressive response to HIV/AIDS under Health Minister Neal Blewett. Despite vehement opposition from the National Party and Queensland Government, The Opposition basically gives bipartisan support to the government's approach.

1991

January- Paul Keating becomes the first Australian Prime Minister to offer a message of support to Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.

1992

November- Keating Government repeals the ban on lesbians and gays serving in the armed forces.

1993

Labor Federal government supports eliminating Tasmanian anti-gay laws in the Toonen v. Australia case before the United Nation, which later finds the laws in breach of human rights.

1994

January- Debate over ABC broadcast of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade

December- Federal Parliament passes the Commonwealth Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Bill introduced by Keating Government. Federal Opposition agrees not to oppose the Bill on the basis that they support the right to privacy.

1995

Keating Government introduces “interdependency visas” allowing same sex partners of Australian citizens to migrate to Australia.

December - Australian Democrats introduce the Sexuality Discrimination Bill. Neither Labor nor Coalition supports the bill.

1996

The Liberal/National Coalition Government forms under John Howard.

Openly gay Bob Brown is elected as an Australian Greens Senator for Tasmania

July - Howard Government slashes the number of “interdependency visas,” making migration for same sex couples far more difficult.

December- Labor MP Anthony Albanese speaks out about discrimination against same sex couples in federal Superannuation laws.

1997

January – In response to the (initially) successful discrimination claim of a Queensland lesbian, the Federal Minister for Health threatens to remove Medicare rebates for lesbians who access fertility services. In response to the same case, the Federal Attorney General first threatens to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to exclude unmarried women from fertility services and then from adoption.

January- John Howard refuses to offer a message of support to Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and tells a Current Affair that he would be "disappointed" if one of his children were to tell him they were gay or lesbian.

1998

Gay rights activist Brian Greig is elected as an Australian Democrats Senator for Western Australia

February- Labor MP Albanese introduces a bill to extend Superannuation benefits to same sex couples.

1999

November- Labor MP Albanese again introduces a bill to extend Superannuation benefits to same sex couples.

2000

April- The Senate Select Committee on Superannuation and Financial Services examined Albanese's Bill and released its report. There were over 1200 submissions in favour of the Bill and only 5 submissions opposed it. The majority of the committee, made up of the Labor and Democrat Senators, supported the Bill, however, the Government Senators on the Committee wrote a minority report opposing the Bill.

July- In response to the McBain decision in Victoria finding that it is unlawful to exclude unmarried women from fertility services, John Howard tries to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to exclude lesbians and single heterosexual women from anti-discrimination protection in this area. Labor, Democrats and Greens ensure that the legislation does not pass the Senate.

2001

The openly lesbian Penny Wong is elected as a Labor Senator for South Australia.

May- Widows and surviving prisoners of war detained by the Japanese during WWII are awarded $12,000, but Family and Community Service Minister Amanda Vanstone claims that the 25 gay partners of the POWs will not be eligible because Australia does not recognize same-sex marriage.

June- Labor MP Albanese again introduces a bill to extend Superannuation benefits to same sex couples.

August- When asked in a Triple J interview where he placed himself on a scale of acceptance of homosexuality, one end being total acceptance and the other total rejection, John Howard replied, 'Oh I'd place myself somewhere in the middle. I certainly don't think you should give the same status to homosexual liaisons as you give to marriage, I don't.'

2002

February- Attorney General Daryl Williams applies to have a court decision reversed that granted legal marriage status to a transsexual man and his wife.

March– Liberal MP Bill Heffernan accuses Justice Kirby of being a pedophile. John Howard, Attorney General Williams, and Treasurer Peter Costello stand by and refuse to defend Kirby. Heffernan’s “evidence” is eventually discredited by Senate Opposition leader John Faulkner and Heffernan is forced to stand down from his party position but remains an MP.
Later in the week Howard remarked that he is “conservatively tolerant” of gay people.

- MP Mark Latham remarks to the House of Representative about Liberal MP Bill Heffernan –
“It is a standing joke around this building that the senator is personally obsessed with all things homosexual and that he uses his office resources to keep files and run vendettas against homosexual citizens. He has turned his office into a star chamber to satisfy his own homophobic and bigoted views. Unfortunately, this is more than a joke: it is a damning commentary on a government willing to tolerate such a person as cabinet secretary.”

April- With the participation of Catholic Bishops, Attorney General Williams unsuccessfully attempts to appeal the McBain decision to the High Court, and again tries to exclude lesbians from fertility services by amending the Sex Discrimination Act. John Howard repeatedly says that it is better for children to have married opposite sex parents.

November- Attorney General Williams refuses the referral of powers from all the states which would allow the Family Court to hear property disputes of same sex couples.

2003

August– John Howard remarked to a Darwin radio station on gay marriage,
“I’m opposed to changing the law in Australia to give them the same status as marriage that we all understand in our society…That’s not an expression of discrimination – it’s just an expression that marriage as we understand it is one of the bedrock institutions of our society…it’s very much about the raising of children…and the continuation of the species.”

Treasurer Peter Costello echoes Howard’s sentiment, “Obviously people have relationships and they might be long term relationships between people of the same sex, but to have a marriage it has to be people of the opposite sex.”

September- UN Human Rights Commission declares Australia’s Federal Government in violation of equality and privacy rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights after denying a man a defacto spouse veteran’s pension based on his 38 year same sex relationship. The request from the UN that Australia take steps to treat same sex couples equally is ignored and when directly questioned the Attorney General says that the government is not bound by the ruling.

2004

March- John Howard condemns ACT adoption laws that allow same sex couples to adopt and considers using little used Commonwealth laws to override ACT laws. Howard states -
“I'm against gay adoption, just as I'm against gay marriage. I’m a social conservative…I think there are certain benchmark institutions and arrangements in our society that you don't muck around with. Children ideally should be brought up by a mother and a father who are married. That's the ideal."

- Mark Latham defends the rights of same sex couples to adopt.

April- Mark Latham declares Labor’s intention to widen the “mateship circle” which includes “respect for difference in our society: fairer treatment of same-sex couples”.

May– John Howard remarked on his gay marriage ban, “It does not discriminate against gay people…it is discriminating in favor of an institution which is basic to the cohesion of society.” Labor states it will oppose the ban on gay overseas adoptions, won’t oppose the gay marriage ban but it will ensure same sex couples are treated equally to opposite sex de factos.

June– John Howard repeatedly condemns ABC for running ‘a political agenda’ when it featured a lesbian couple on the children’s program Play School. Acting Prime Minister John Anderson said gays and lesbians should accept that their choice of “lifestyle” meant other life options were closed to them. Mark Latham responds that he was happy for his young son to “be exposed to the many aspects of our diverse society”, but said he would prefer to “lead him down that path” himself.

- Labor MP Albanese again introduces a bill to extend Superannuation benefits to same sex couples.

- Labor, with support from Greens and Democrats, sends Howard’s gay marriage ban to a Senate inquiry.

- The Howard Government, with support of the Democrats, amends the superannuation legislation to recognise “interdependency relationships” which will include many (but not all) same sex de facto couples.

- John Howard introduces for the third time the gay marriage ban into parliament.

August- Labor decides not to await the report of the Senate inquiry. Howard’s gay marriage ban passes with the support of the Labor Party.