An Australia-wide relationships register is a positive and productive way to formally recognise same-sex relationships, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday. Rudd was responding to newspaper reports that senior Labor ministers had told gay activists the Government was working on secret plans to allow gay civil unions. But Rudd said Labor's plan for a national relationship register for same-sex couples, similar to the register in operation in Tasmania, was the best option. "We believe that's an appropriate way to go," Rudd said. "Our position has always been that marriage is between a man and a woman, and therefore that always will form the cornerstone of our view on these matters. "A relationships register, nationally consistent of the type we've had in Tasmania since 2004 and of the type of which the Victorian Government has recently proposed, we believe is a positive and productive way forward." This was particularly so if an appropriate nationally uniform legislation was added to reform and remove any impediments to same-sex couples in relation to inheritance law, taxation law and social security law, he said. A national register would officially record an existing gay relationship, but would not endorse the more controversial step of approving same-sex marriage or civil unions. The register also could be used by people in platonic, dependent relationships. Rudd said consultation about the register would continue over next 12 months. "It's complex, we've got to get it right," he said.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Monday, 17th December 2007 - 3:17pm