Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has questioned the Gillard Government on why Australian authorities were restricting gay Australians from marrying outside of the country.
He said the Government’s attempts to stop gay and lesbian couples from marrying were ‘petty and mean-spirited’.
In Federal Parliament yesterday, Wilkie questioned the PM as to why the government continued to deny same-sex couples a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) and asked if she would lift the ban.
PM Julia Gillard refused to lift the ban and said the government could only issue the certificates if the current laws changed.
‘Given that under Australian law through the Marriage Act a marriage is between a man and a woman, it would not be proper to issue a certificate of no impediment because in truth we do not have the mechanism under current law to recognise a same-sex marriage overseas,’ the PM said.
‘I understand that the question of same-sex marriage is a controversial one in the community. I have made my views very well known and the position of the government is also very well known.’
The certificates are issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to allow Australians to marry overseas and most governments will not allow a couple to get married without one. Of the ten countries that allow and perform same-sex marriages, only the Netherlands has allowed an exemption to Australians to marry without a CNI, according to Australian Marriage Equality.
Smartraveller.gov.au, the Australian government’s portal for international travel states that people of the same-sex were not allowed CNI’s, along with relatives, already married Australians and people under 18.
In 2009, a tri-partisan Senate Committee into same-sex marriage recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issue CNI’s to same-sex couples the same way they were issued to couples of different sexes.
The committee said they could see no connection between issuing a CNI and the government needing to recognise overseas same-sex marriages. The committee also said: ‘a decision by a sovereign nation to allow marriage between a couple of the same-sex should be a matter for that nation, and not a matter against which Australia should throw up bureaucratic barriers’.
AME National Convener, Alex Greenwich, welcomed Mr Wilkie’s question saying the Government’s denial of CNIs to same-sex partners is causing harm.
‘Because of the Government’s refusal to issue CNIs same-sex partners have had to cancel weddings, have missed out on key entitlements in areas like health care and immigration and have suffered yet another slap in the face from their home country.’
‘As the number of countries that allow same-sex marriages increases so does the number of couples having these hassles and suffering this indignity.’
Benn Dorrington
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