Marriage Amendment Bill
2004
Date Introduced:
24 June 2004
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Attorney-General
Commencement:
Royal
Assent
This Bill has the following purposes:
-
To formally define marriage in the Marriage Act 1961,
and
-
To ensure that same sex marriages are not recognised as marriage
in Australia, inclusive of those performed under the laws of
another country that permits such unions.
The pre-cursor to the Marriage Amendment Bill
2004 ( the current Bill ) is the Marriage Legislation Amendment
Bill 2004 ( the first Bill ). Introduced on 27 May 2004, it
proposed to amend the Marriage Act 1961 to define marriage
and prevent same sex couples from adopting children from overseas
countries.
The first Bill passed the House of
Representatives on 17 June 2004 and was introduced into the Senate
the following day. It was referred to the Senate Legal and
Constitutional Legislation Committee on 23 June 2004 with the
Committee scheduled to release a report by 7 October 2004.
The current Bill replicates Schedule 1 of the
first Bill with provisions defining marriage. Further comments and
a comprehensive analysis of the provisions of the first Bill are
available in Bills Digest 155 2003-04, Marriage Legislation
Amendment Bill 2004(1).
The Government s haste to have the current
Bill passed appears to be linked to two applications filed in court
to have same sex marriages performed within the laws of another
country recognised under Australian law(2). This Bill
amends the Marriage Act 1961 to prevent the recognition of
same-sex marriages in Australia, even where the marriage has been
performed under the laws of another country which does recognise
this type of union.
In addition the Government has also indicated
that the need for Parliament to give its immediate attention to the
current Bill is related to expressions of significant community
concern about the possible erosion of the institution of marriage
(3). It is the Attorney-General s opinion that
Parliament s quick action is needed to address these community
concerns.
The Marriage Amendment Bill 2004 contains
those provisions of the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2004
which the Australian Labor Party stipulated it would support in a
press release issued on 1 June 2004(4). Shadow
Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon MP, reiterated during the second
reading of the current Bill that the Labor Party would agree to the
measures it contains. However, the Party expressed reservations
about the process on two grounds. The first, questioned the
Government s claims that the issue of gay marriage was of such
major community concern that it warranted the need to be dealt with
urgently. The second raised the point that the first Bill has
already been referred to a Senate committee, the report from which
is yet to be released(5).
The Greens have labelled both the current and
the first Bill discriminatory against the gay and lesbian community
and condemned both the Government and the Labor Party for failing
to acknowledge the change, within present day society, in the make
up of couples(6). In the House of Representatives,
Greens MP, Michael Organ introduced amendments to the current Bill
which included provisions that acknowledged gay and lesbian unions
within the definition of marriage and also the recognition of such
unions as marriages in Australia regardless of whether they were
performed in a foreign country. These amendments were not adopted
and the current Bill passed the House of Representatives
unchanged.
For an explanation of the main provisions of
the current Bill, please refer to Bills Digest 155 2003-04,
Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2004.
The Marriage Amendment Bill 2004 passed the
House of Representatives on 24 June 2004 however the first reading
in the Senate was negatived on the 25 June 2004.
-
Jennifer Norberry, Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2004 ,
Bills
Digest, no. 155, Parliamentary Library, Canberra,
2003-04.
-
House of Representatives, Hansard, 24 June 2004, p.
30563.
-
Ibid.
-
Shadow Attorney-General, Media Release, Labor s
decision on gay marriage ban entrenches discrimination, 1 June 2004
.
-
House of Representatives, Hansard, 24 June 2004, p.
30564.
-
House of Representatives, Hansard, 24 June 2004, p.
30565.
This paper has been prepared for general distribution to
senators and members of the Australian Parliament. While great care
is taken to ensure that the paper is accurate and balanced, the
paper is written using information publicly available at the time
of production. The views expressed are those of the author and
should not be attributed to the Information and Research Services
(IRS). Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in
this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for
related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional
legal opinion. Readers are reminded that the paper is not an
official parliamentary or Australian government document.
Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2004.