Labor and the Greens are continuing to refuse to come clean to the Tasmanian people about their secret proposals to change birth certificates.
The amendments we have seen to date are highly problematic for a number of reasons and are yet to be consulted with the Tasmanian people.
In what circumstances does Labor propose that children will not have their sex listed on their birth certificate? How will the wishes of the child be known?
Not only are there likely impacts on the general public, including parents and children, but also the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and our courts.
Birth certificates are used to get passports, vehicle and gun licenses – their integrity must not be compromised. Any change would require wide-ranging consultation, not least of all to ensure they can be validated through the Commonwealth Document Verification Service.
These are all serious legal matters and should not be subject to backroom deals between Labor and the Greens for political expediency. Significant law reform should not occur on the floor of Parliament without these matters being fully considered.
It’s clear that their refusal to release their amendments is because they are struggling to write amendments that even make legal sense.
The first iteration of Labor-Green amendments included clauses which attempted to bolster the rights of individuals but would have actually inadvertently removed legal protections, and another would have allowed interstate laws to override Tasmanians laws in regards to the information the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages is required to collect.
I call on Labor and the Greens to pass the Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage Amendments) Bill 2018 without amendment or delay, to ensure Tasmanian law is compliant with the national changes that allowed same sex marriage in Australia.
The Government has consistently laid out a considered, appropriate and sensitive way to examine possible areas of law reform regarding sex and gender in Tasmania by way of referral to the Tasmania Law Reform Institute, and we believe it is the best way to approach this significant area of law reform.