2001 Election
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reform for WA
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THE LOBBY TEAM
Female Convenor
Alex Sosnov
Male Convenor
Anthony Schembri
Secretary
Andrew Pickles
Treasurer
Jenny Mann
Committee Members
Grant Colquhuon
Luke Gahan
Shane Garland
Nadine Lutherborrow
Gillian Mahoney
Nikki Maloney
Jenni Millbank
Anthony Powell
Kathy Sant
Naomi Sharp
Suzy Tay
To Contact Us:
Phone: 02 9360 6650
Fax: 9331 7963
e-mail: glrl@rainbow.net.au
NEWSLETTER: February 2002 |
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Groundbreaking Reform for WA
On 14 November last year the Acts Amendment (Lesbian and Gay Reform) Bill 2001, the most progressive set of gay and lesbian law reforms ever seen in Australia, was introduced into the WA State Parliament.
Damian Meyer, Convenor of Gay and Lesbian Equality, said the introduction of the Bill was a historic occasion.
Never before have we seen such a comprehensive reform package, he said. When passed, gays and lesbians will no longer be treated as second class citizens by the law in a whole range of areas.
This Bill covers areas as diverse as equality on age of consent in the Criminal Code, so that young gay males will finally not be treated as criminals where their straight friends aren't. It provides coverage for sexual orientation under the States Equal Opportunity laws, with all the same exemptions that exist currently for other grounds.
It allows all women who are medically infertile access to IVF, removing the current restriction to married couples and heterosexual de factos who have been in a relationship for five years.
It allows gay and lesbian couples with children from previous relationships or from donor insemination processes to co-adopt those children, providing for continuity of primary care should the biological parent die or become incapacitated.
WA Attorney General Jim McGinty said the widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians condoned by existing Western Australian laws could not be tolerated in a modern society.
It affects everything from their employment and financial security, through to parental rights and basic protection from harassment, the Attorney General said.
Specifically, the new laws will:
- Make it unlawful to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation. This includes discrimination in employment, education, accommodation, access and the provision of goods, services and facilities;
- Provide the same rights for same sex partners as other couples to inherit from a deceased partner and make decisions about matters such as burial arrangements and post mortems;
- Enable all medically infertile women to access IVF treatment;
- Allow lesbians who become parents through a partner's artificial conception to register the birth and appear on the birth certificate as a parent;
- Allow same-sex couples to adopt children subject to criteria for assessing the suitability of any couple to be parents;
- Equalise the age of consent at 16 for consenting homosexuals. At present, homosexuals under the age of 21 can be jailed for five years for having consensual sex;
- Recognise same-sex partners as beneficiaries under the Parliamentary Superannuation Act and State Superannuation Act; and
- Include same-sex partners in the definition of relatives for the declaration of financial interests by Members of Parliament.
The legislation implements many of the recommendations from the Lesbian and Gay Law Reform Report released in August 2201, although the extent of discrimination identified in the report was so comprehensive that a further Bill is planned next year to address remaining issues not able to be covered in the present time frame.
The balance of power in the Upper House of the WA Parliament is controlled by the Greens, including lesbian MLC Giz Watson. The Bill is expected to pass when it is debated in the Legislative Council later this month.