Australia - Democracy still fails a significant minority: Study...

Australia - Democracy still fails a significant minority: Study... [2007-07-22 ANU] http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Media/Media_Releases/_2007/_July/_220707_audit_minority.asp

The Australian National University Sunday 22 July 2007 Democracy still fails a significant minority: Study

A new study by the Democratic Audit of Australia at The Australian National University has found that a significant minority of Australians are missing out on basic democratic rights and a range of legal entitlements simply because they are not heterosexual. In the audit report, How well does Australian democracy serve sexual and gender minorities, Dr Sarah Maddison from the University of New South Wales and Emma Partridge from the University of Technology, examined the impact of Australia’s legislative and policy frameworks, as well as social attitudes that affect the rights of gay, lesbian, transsexual and intersex Australians.

Dr Maddison said that while recognition of the rights of sexual and gender minorities had seen significant advances over recent decades, significant inequality and discrimination still persists. “Being openly gay is no longer an automatic barrier to a successful public life, and same-sex families are becoming increasingly accepted,” Dr Maddison said. “We have seen significant legislative and policy change by State and Territory governments but we haven’t seen concurrent change at a Federal level, leaving Australia lagging behind comparable countries, especially in the area of relationship recognition.

Even a High Court Judge, Michael Kirby, is unable to obtain equal pension rights for his partner of 38 years as his married colleagues enjoy. “That limited recognition of same-sex relationships in federal legislation means, for instance, that non-heterosexual parents and their children have only limited legal protections in the areas such as inheritance, child support, contact and parental authority." Human Right Commissioner Graeme Innes AM welcomed the audit report. “This provides further evidence of the need to change legislation which discriminates against people just because they love a person of the same sex,” Mr Innes said.

“HREOC's recently released report, Same Sex: Same Entitlements, reveals that 58 federal laws deny same-sex couples and families basic financial and work-related entitlements which opposite-sex couples and their families take for granted. Those laws cover a wide range of fundamental entitlements, including carer’s leave to look after a sick partner, access to the Medicare and PBS Safety Nets and superannuation and workers’ compensation death benefits for the same- sex partners of federal government employees. “These discriminatory laws breach human rights. And the discrimination can be stopped. All it takes is a few changes to the definitions in some federal laws. “It is nothing short of unjust that same-sex families should continue to be treated as second-class citizens in 2007,” Mr Innes said Dr Maddison said that the remaining inequalities were an unnecessary blight on Australia’s democratic credentials and human rights record. -

The report is also available online at

http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/papers/focussed_audits/200707madpartsexlty_no9.pdf

and attached to this post. 

More information: Jane O'Dwyer, ANU Media Office, 0416 249 231 -- Copyright The Australian National University

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