The Greens say they’ve been provided much more impetus in order to pursue the matter of gay marriage at Federal level following laws allowing same-sex partners to adopt passed in the New South Wales Parliament.

Gay rights activists are satisfied with the reforms, even though they permit religious adoption companies to sidestep discrimination procedures. However, the Australian Christian Lobby is unhappy with the new legislation and thinks that same-sex should not be allowed to adopt when there are plenty of suitable heterosexual couples that would also like a child.

Jim Wallace, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, believes that the NSW Government is not placing the interests of the child first.

“To argue that if we have this long line of prospective adoptive parents who are heterosexual ….. that giving children to very demanding gay rights activists can for a moment be in the child’s best interest – how could it possibly be when you have so many well-screened prospective adoptive heterosexual couples?” he said. “I mean it is a ridiculous argument.”

Mr Wallace says it is too difficult for a heterosexual mother and father to adopt children at birth, and that s exactly where state government authorities need to be focusing their efforts if they would like to increase the lot of children.

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby says there are hardly any adoptions by means of conventional methods presently. In reality there is no more than 20 a year in NSW. They are saying the law will provide the greatest help to the roughly 1500 children who already live with gay parents, many of them in foster care placements.

Their arguments might have been convincing to legislators in New South Wales, but Queensland claims it is not likely to follow suit. NSW Council for Civil Liberties secretary Stephen Blanks says “Some states are going to lag behind others, but eventually the good sense of this legislation and the good sense of parliamentarians voting in accordance with their conscience will eventually bring about reform so Australia has uniform laws in this area.”

The Greens hope the passage of the bill in NSW can lead the way for a 2nd evaluation of the Marriage Act at the federal level. At this time, the Act defines marriage as between a man and a woman and will not recognise gay marriage from other countries. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young states that it is actually at the top of her program for the next sitting of Parliament. “The first thing that I’ll be doing is introducing my private member’s bill to amend the Marriage Act allowing same-sex couples the same rights as everybody else – to celebrate their love,” she said.

Mr Blanks says the chances are greater that any move towards recognition of gay marriage will be imported from overseas. “As other countries around the world without great fanfare or trouble allow gay marriages, Australia will just look to be out of step.” he said. Mr Blanks says it is likely Australia will encounter legal problems, since gay and lesbian couples will move to Australia and will not have their marriages recognised.

This good news for couples in De Facto Relationships is that their matters will now be dealt with in a similar manner to those of married couples.

What is a De Facto Relationship?

The Court will review a number of criteria to determine whether a de facto relationship exists including:

• The duration of the relationship
• Whether a sexual relationship exists
• The reputation and public assets of the relationship, for example, if the parties go out together as a couple etc.

How long do I have to live with someone before the De Facto laws apply?

The Court can only make Orders in relation to property proceedings in respect to a de facto couple where:-

• The period or the total of the periods of the de facto relationship is at least two (2) years. Even if you have been living with someone and there have been periods of separation, so long as the total period adds up to two (2) years then the laws will apply; OR
• There is a child of the de facto relationship; OR
• The party substantially contributed to any property and a failure to make an order would cause a serious injustice – therefore, if a party has made a substantial financial contribution or otherwise to some of the property of the other party then the laws may apply.

What can the Court do in regards to the assets of the de facto relationship couple?

After the breakdown of a de facto relationship, the court may make such order as it considers appropriate.

This is a wide term but it includes:

• Altering the party’s interest in property e.g. if property is registered only in one party’s name the court can make an order that the property be transferred to the other or be sold etc to ensure the other party receives their share in that property;
• Spousal Maintenance;
• Splitting of Superannuation interest.

An application can only be brought in a de facto matter with respect to issues involving property if the application is made within two (2) years after the end of the de facto relationship. After this time, you must seek the Court’s consent to bring the application. That consent may be given if the court is satisfied hardship will be caused to the party.