Local

Former West Australian opposition leader and cabinet minister, Jim McGinty has resigned from parliament to take a well earned rest.

He told OUTinPerth that after 19 years in politics, and most of those in a ministerial capacity, he was looking forward to relaxing for a little while.

‘The double roles of Health Minister and Attorney General were a big workload- very rewarding, but tiring,’ he said.

Political pundits and Labor party members have referred to Mr McGinty as one of WA’s ‘great reformers’ due to the extensive list of changes to outdated legislation he instigated.

He fought for the one-vote, one-value electoral system, established the Corruption and Crime Commission and was responsible for wide-ranging reforms to WA’s health system.

But he will perhaps be most fondly remembered by the GLBTIQ community for his role in passing the 2001 (Lesbian and Gay) Law Reform Bill, which removed discrimination against same-sex couples in many areas of law.

‘It was one of my proudest moments, and also one of the most controversial,’ said Mr McGinty.

‘There were huge rallies against the reforms and politically it was really hard, but we knew what we were doing was right.’

The 2001 Law Reform Bill equalized the age of consent at 16 for everyone (previously it was 21 for male on male sex but 16 for everyone else), repealed Gross Indecency Law, which targeted male on male sexual activity in public places and included sexual orientation as a protected category under the Equal Opportunity Act.

The bill also provided access to adoption and in-vitro fertilisation treatment for same-sex couples and access to the family court system, making WA the country’s leader in terms of GLBTIQ rights.

‘We have gone from one of the most homophobic states to one of the best in the world.

‘Other states are slowly catching up with what we’ve done in WA and last year the Federal Government finally caught up with what we’d already achieved.’

While preparing the Law Reform Bill, Mr McGinty set up an advisory committee of leaders from the gay and lesbian community to help identify discriminatory laws.

John Hyde MLA was a part of this committee and praised Mr McGinty for his principles of equality.

‘Jim McGinty will be seen to be the great lesbian and gay reformer in Australia’s political history,’ said Mr Hyde.

‘Just as Don Dunstan paved the way with equality law reform in the 1970s in South Australia, Jim McGinty introduced into WA Australia’s most comprehensive reforms.

‘The addition of equality rights for lesbian and gay adoptees exceeds reforms in any other State.’

Mr McGinty says he can step back from his parliamentary career content and proud of the contribution he has made.

***

Amy Henderson

This entry was posted on at and is filed under Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.