Love is in
the air, but Abbott government flags high court challenge to first weddings due
to begin in December
theguardian.com,
Australian Associated Press, Tuesday 22 October 2013
 |
| The ACT chief minister, Katy Gallagher, speaks to marriage equality supporters after the debate. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP |
Gay and
lesbian couples will be able to marry in the Australian Capital Territory after
a bill to legalise same-sex marriage passed the territory's legislative
assembly.
People in
the public gallery clapped and sang Love Is In The Air when the bill passed
shortly before midday on Tuesday.
The first
marriages are likely to take place from December.
But the
federal government has flagged a high court challenge to the laws.
The federal
attorney general, George Brandis, said his government had legal advice that the
ACT's legislation was invalid because it was inconsistent with the provisions
of the Commonwealth Marriage Act.
"Irrespective
of anyone's views on the desirability or otherwise of same-sex marriage, it is
clearly in Australia's interests that there be nationally consistent marriage
laws," a spokesman for Senator Brandis said in a statement on Tuesday.
Brandis has
asked the ACT government not to put the new laws into effect until the court
can determine their validity, but the chief minister, Katy Gallagher, has vowed
to press ahead.
"I
don't believe this bill in any way challenges, diminishes or undermines the
religion or faith of any individual," she said during the debate on the
bill.
"If we
are to be judged by a higher being on this law, then let it be so."
Gallagher's
openly gay deputy, Andrew Barr, broke down in tears during debate on the bill.
"The
sacrifice, the suffering, the struggle and the tireless exertions and
passionate concern of gay and lesbian Canberrans, their parents and their
families finds a voice and finds a champion in this assembly," said Barr,
who is in a civil union with his partner, Anthony Toms.
More than
200 people were present to watch the debate, with the public gallery packed and
people who could not squeeze in watching the debate broadcast in another room.
The
opposition leader, Jeremy Hanson, told the assembly that legalising same-sex
marriage was not a responsible course of action.
"We do
not see the ACT assembly as a vehicle to drive national agendas on social
agendas," he said.
The Greens
MLA Shane Rattenbury, who has the deciding vote in the 17-member assembly, said
it was a landmark moment for the ACT.
The federal
Labor MP for the Canberra electorate of Fraser, Andrew Leigh, congratulated the
ACT on the bill and said the Abbott government's challenge plan was
"mean-spirited".
"What
the ACT has done is simply allow two people who love each other to have that
love recognised by way of marriage," Leigh said.
"It
isn't going to weaken heterosexual marriages like mine. This is going to make
us stronger as a society."
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