Relationships Act - Couples Register Scheme

01/12/2008

by Dr Helen Szoke
Chief Executive Officer
Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission

I wish to begin by paying my respects to the traditional owners of the land and to their elders past and present.

Thank you to the Attorney General and the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages for allowing the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission to participate in this event which marks the maturing of the Victorian community’s view about the importance of recognition of relationships for same sex couples.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Commission’s landmark report, Same-Sex Relationships and the Law.

The Relationships Act, which comes into force today, implements a number of the recommendations made in this report.

Most importantly, we said that ending discrimination against lesbians and gay men required recognition of all couples, irrespective of gender. This needed two steps: extending de facto recognition to all couples—done in 2001—and the establishment of a relationship register—which happens today.

The Couples Register is a great scheme:

It provides proof of existence of relationships before the law.

That this was not available before now is hard to believe. So many same-sex couples have had to live with the fear their relationship would be disbelieved, not respected. This Register provides an insurance policy to people who have, in the past, experienced discrimination, unequal access to the law; who’ve had to fight, so unfairly, to assert rights as partners that others take for granted.

Now, two people who have made a formal commitment to a shared life can enjoy the same rights as married couples, including:

Such things as the ability to make decisions for incapacitated partners, receive superannuation, employment benefits, accident compensation and division of property.

They must also be recognised by health care officials as next-of-kin if that is their choice.

The Register also provides a focal point to bring others together to mark the occasion, if that is their choice.

This is important too, because it provides an important social dimension to the rights and responsibilities that come with signing this register.

For the community, the Couples Register is one important indication of all the work being done to build a community where every person values and respects human rights and equal opportunity.

This is a community where couples won’t be discriminated against, where there’ll be equal access to justice for everybody.

So, congratulations to the couples here today.

We are honoured to be here for the first registrations.

We are sorry you had to wait so long.