It’s on - well, maybe
Apr 23rd, 2008 by Rebecca
I just got a call with some interesting news.
Chief Minister Stanhope has just come out swinging in support of the Civil Partnerships Bill, launching a vocal attack on Kevin Rudd during a speech to a lawyers group. It’s been a bit drowned out by the publicity surrounding the torch relay (I imagine on purpose), but there’s some pretty pointed comments in there. In the speech, he evidently urged Rudd quite forcefully to back off from his threats to overturn the bill, attacked him for violating the separation of church and state, and argued that a government that’s willing to go into bat for the citizens of Tibet should at the very least not stand in the way of the civil rights of its own citizens. It sounds as if it was quite the impressive speech, and the first real step forward we’ve seen in months; finally, the ACT government has come out and said something more firm.
This said, I’m still uncertain about the future of the bill. Stanhope left room in that speech for doubt, complaining that Rudd was “thwarting” his attempts to actually introduce civil unions. The Attorney-General is still refusing to give a timetable for the introduction of the bill, despite having been pointedly asked to give one by Greens MLA Deb Foskey in parliament a few weeks ago. And the fact is, they’re running out of time. They’ve got two sittings left before the writs are dropped for the election and the bill currently before parliament goes ta-ta until someone maybe reintroduces it sometime down the line.
If this speech is a sign by the Stanhope government that they’re about to get serious, and start getting ready to send the Civil Partnerships Bill to the floor, I’ll be stoked. I’ve begun to wonder recently if they’re thinking of passing it through in the August session as a (really quite brilliant) electoral stunt, allowing Stanhope to play both the territory rights and progressive cards right on the eve of the election. It’s plausible, I think, and it’s what I’m hoping, anyway, because the alternative - the government effectively putting off the bill indefinitely - does not bode well for either the LGBT community here or our relationship with this government.
[…] going to be taken to the floor of the Legislative Assembly. I was relieved last week when Stanhope publicly attacked the federal government over its attempts at preventing the bill’s passage, and today, […]