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21 May 2002 “Attorney General Action on Missing Pieces of Relationship Law Reform” The Office of the NSW Attorney General Bob Debus has advised that Cabinet have approved law reform that recognises lesbian and gay de facto relationships in 23 different Acts. These ‘missing pieces’ of the Property Relationship Amendment Act (1999) significantly re-dress much of the inequality faced by lesbian and gay couples and, when passed by the Parliament, will be a tremendous victory for lesbian and gay rights in NSW. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) has welcomed action by the Government on gay and lesbian rights with enthusiasm, Convenor, Anthony Schembri stated “We’re thrilled the Attorney has been true to his earlier word to the GLRL and community in committing to law reform and then actually doing something about it”. He added, “these changes in law will provide equality to same sex couples in many aspects of day to day life and will make a difference in ending some of the discrimination in our laws”. Schembri noted, for instance, “laws proposed to be changed to become inclusive of our relationships relate to diverse areas, such as tenancy and workplace entitlements”. The laws that relate to workplace entitlements range from granting the right to inherit the unpaid balance of a deceased partner’s long service leave or in giving unpaid leave to co-parents. “This is about granting lesbian and gay couples the same and equal rights as heterosexual couples and moves NSW forward towards no longer being the last state in Australia when it comes to equality for lesbians and gay men”, he said. Alex Sosnov, Convenor of the GLRL acknowledged the hard work and lobbying efforts over the past nine months by many in our community since the Attorney’s public commitment to tidy up the missing pieces. Alex thanked and acknowledged our parliamentary supporters, the Greens and the Democrats, Clover Moore MLA and key supporters in the Government like Jan Burnswoods MLC. “Yet there are also many GLRL members and community members who wrote or called the Premier and Attorney demanding equality and we thank them all for joining us in fighting for our rights”, said Sosnov. Sosnov called upon the Parliament to support these amendments as it did in 1999. “We’re calling upon the Premier and Leader of the Opposition to demonstrate their bipartisan support and leadership in tidying up the missing pieces just as they recently showed leadership in their public support for the equalising of the age of consent”. However, the Attorney General did not commit to reform in the area of adoption rights nor in equalising the discriminatory age of consent laws for young gay men in NSW and “this is where the Lobby will continue the fight for our rights”, said Schembri. For more information, please contact Anthony Schembri 93502331 or 0412 523 978 or Alex Sosnov 0418 207 027.