The ACT Opposition says the Government should take up its relationship registration scheme now the civil union legislation has been scuttled, the ABC reports.
Liberal leader Bill Stefaniak said the registration scheme, based on a Tasmanian model, would allow same-sex and heterosexual couples to register their relationships. I’m not quite clear what legal rights this would grant the couple, but at the very least it would help to prove a relationship in probate disputes.
“It doesn’t offend the institution of marriage, it doesn’t offend the Federal Government’s Marriage Act and it is a scheme that has actually been operating successfully in another state for several years now,” Mr Stefaniak said.
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the registration scheme was not what had been asked for during consultation with same-sex couples, but that did not mean the Government would rule it out completely.
He called the registration scheme a “second best option”, but said that “we need to go back and have a fresh look at how we can guarantee and protect the rights of people in same-sex relationships, give them equal treatment under the law”.
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