Spare the pink and greys this well-intentioned bill

Wednesday, 7th January 2009

Rudd’s Same Sex Relations Bill is a challenge to the well-earned privacy of retired gay couples, says John Izzard

It is quite possible that 2009 might find the government of Kevin Rudd in a whole heap of trouble regarding its human rights record. Ever so keen to criticise other nations about how they treat their citizens, it seems incredible that Rudd might find himself in the same category as President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Because he’s about to go gay-hunting!

Rudd’s new Same Sex Relations Bill 2008 is imminent, and while those living in the Wild Wood are ecstatic, those living along the River Bank are far from happy. It could be getting a tad ‘windy in the willows’.

The new bill gives equal treatment to same-sex couples regarding a range of laws that had been, until now, restricted to married or heterosexual couples. The changes affect things like superannuation, entitlements and legal status, and can briefly be summed up by the law’s subtitle, ‘Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws’.

The new laws were a result of lobbying by high-profile, middle- and upper-class gay activists and a recommendation by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The main emphasis is on the legal rights of gay couples to the superannuation of their partners. The new laws are a welcome reform, and remove substantial injustices. Overall, they are good news.

While the Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws bill sprang from the noblest intentions, the Rudd government ignored advice that highlighted the moral and ethical problems this law would unleash regarding privacy, discrimination, harassment, embarrassment, anguish and financial suffering, and that it would affect tens of thousands of aged pensioners and welfare recipients.

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Addam Stobbs

January 11th, 2009 7:04am Report this comment

Thanks for a good article, the imagery that older gay man and lesbian women are frail and helpless with wheel chairs in tow etc is not quite a positive image.

Bobby

January 11th, 2009 9:40am Report this comment

What a load of crap - with equality comes responsibility!

I can assure you that most gays are wholehearteldy supportive of these law changes..

As for the comment that wealthy gays are pushing for these laws, so what?

Eric Glare

January 12th, 2009 5:40am Report this comment

This article could have made some credible points about the implementation of recognition of Aussie gay relationships but fails due to errors, over picky tangents and sensationalist stuffing. Why doesn't the author know that Centrelink has been distinguishing heterosexual de factos from single people for decades? How does staff numbers make Centrelink "Australia’s most powerful bureaucratic body"? What is so terrible about keeping a recipient's relationship status on a database? Are they really going to ask for specific sexuality, ie bi vs gay vs transgender, etc? Do people in nursing homes really have problems with presumed relationships? Just because some famous wealthy gays lent their support does not mean that they were the sole proponents of the changes. Why is it so strange for an equality law to be approved by the GG an ex-equal rights commissioner? Who remembers 'Wind in the willows' and why? Can the author remember the inequality that this law dispels?

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