A gay paper in Australia reports that official discrimination against gay couples in Australian federal laws could be outlawed before next month despite parliamentary maneuvers by the opposition party. Other reports, however, say that the legislation could be delayed for months.

The “Coalition” — a group of the country’s conservative parties — last night vowed to delay any changes until all the proposed reforms are put before the Parliament, The Age newspaper reported.

But Australian gay paper, Sydney Star Observer (SSO), reports that the possibility of a significant delay has been exaggerated.

Reports in The Age and SSO are contradictory at this point, but both suggest that any delay is likely to be temporary.

The first same-sex equality bill introduced by the ruling Rudd Government is likely to be passed before 1 July, as intended, SSO reports, following a one or two day Senate inquiry requested by the Liberals, the lead party in the Coalition. (Despite their name, the “Liberals” are the more conservative of Australia’s two major parties. The Liberals are the lead party in the Coalition.)

After what The Age describes as an “emotionally charged debate” last night, the House of Representatives passed laws to give gays and lesbians the right to inherit their partner’s public sector “superannuation” or death benefits.

The Age reported that the Coalition threatened to use its Senate majority to send the bill to an inquiry that would consider giving the same rights to other interdependent couples. It also indicated, according to The Age, that it would not support making any changes until it sees all of the same-sex reform bills proposed by Labor — the ruling party.

But opposition leader Brendan Nelson last night gave in-principle support to the reforms to end discrimination against gay couples, both The Age and SSO report.

SSO quotes Nelson: “Our very strong disposition is to see we do everything we can to deal with the economic and financial injustices faced by same-sex couples, but in the process we must make sure the bedrock of our society continues to be a man and a woman trying to raise a family in a marriage.”

Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis, representing the Coalition, explained to SSO that its moves were not meant to scuttle the legislation.

“The Coalition supports the legislation in-principle, however has reservations about certain aspects of it which do not go to the essential point of eliminating discrimination,” he wrote.

“Ordinarily, one would expect legislation of this kind to be referred to a Senate Committee, which is not the same thing as rejecting it.”

A Liberal staffer insisted to the Sydney Star Observer the move was not playing politics but there was a realistic concern that 22 pieces of legislation were being rushed through Parliament with legislative errors.

Nelson insisted to The Age that any delay was the responsibility of the Government — not his party. “It is more important that this be done properly, than it be done immediately,” he said.

According to SSO, the Rudd Government is considering pacing the equality reforms over another five bills, with later rounds covering specialist areas of legislation such as spousal exemptions for giving evidence in trials, not included in the original Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report into financial discrimination.

Source: Sydney Star Observer, The Age

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