SA Premier Mike Rann urged the Federal Government to legalise same-sex marriage last weekend in one of his final addresses as Premier while the SA Opposition leader also declared her support for gay marriage.
Delivering the Flinders University Investigator lecture on Sunday night, the Premier said legislative changes had not gone far enough to ensure equality.
‘It is, quite simply, unfair to prevent same-sex couples from having their relationship – a union that is viewed as equal in every other aspect of the law – being recognised as a legal marriage,’ Rann said according to the Advertiser.
‘It only serves to undermine the legitimacy of their relationship, and their family.
‘Same-sex marriage is an idea whose time has well and truly arrived.’
South Australian Opposition Leader, Isobel Redmond also threw her support behind same-sex marriage. Redmond is the second Coalition State Leader, following Queensland Liberal Leader Campbell Newman, to support marriage equality.
Australian Marriage Equality National Convener, Alex Greenwich has welcomed the Premier’s comments and the support from the SA Opposition Leader.
‘Premier Rann’s evolution on this issue is representative of the journey many Australians have taken towards acceptance of marriage equality,’ Greenwich said.
‘Premier Rann has clearly spent much time thinking about and discussing the issue, and like all current State Leaders, he understands this is an issue about the core Labor values of fairness and equality.’
‘The Premier also understands that negotiated half-measures, like Civil Unions, only deliver 2nd class status and entrench discrimination against same-sex couples,’ he said.
Victorian Labor also endorsed full marriage equality and same-sex adoption rights for Victorians over the weekend. Sydney Star Observer reported the Victorian Labor party passed the motion at the State Conference on Saturday. Victorian Labor passed a similar motion in 2009.
Benn Dorrington
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