City of Vincent drops its Relationship Register

The City of Vincent Council has announced it is to discontinuing it’s Relationship Declaration Register. The council says in the wake of changes to the nation’s marriage laws it’s register is no longer needed.

“In 2012 we established Western Australia’s first Relationship Declaration Register enabling couples, regardless of sexual orientation, an opportunity to formally recognise their relationship,” Deputy Mayor Susan Gontaszewski said.

“Since then the register and supporting policy have played an important role recognising relationships of all types and also in expressing our position on marriage equality.”

The existing register and relationship declarations it contains will be kept by the City in perpetuity. The City will no longer be accepting new applications nor providing replacement Declaration Certificates, however the register can be amended on request if a couple would like their names removed.

“The City strongly supports marriage equality as expressed through our Vincent Loves Love campaign late last year. We are delighted that the need for our register and supporting policy has been superseded and the Marriage Act changed to recognize same sex relationships,” the Deputy Mayor said.

Since it was established in 2012, 141 couples had registered their relationships including 33 same sex couples. 

OIP Staff