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2010-2011-2012-2013
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
THE SENATE
Marriage Act Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex Couples)
Bill 2013
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of Senator Hanson-Young)
Marriage Act Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex Couples)
Bill 2013
General outline
The Marriage Act Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex Couples) Bill 2013
amends the Marriage Act 1961 to ensure that marriages that are validly entered into in foreign
countries can be recognised under the laws of Australia.
Financial impact
Nil
Notes on clauses
Clause 1 - Short title This clause provides for the Act, when enacted, to be cited as the Marriage Act
Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013.
Clause 2 - Commencement
This clause provides for the commencement of the Act on the day on which it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3 - Objects This clause states that the object of this Bill is to recognise under Australian laws
same-sex marriages solemnised in a foreign country.
Clause 4 - Schedule This clause provides that the Marriage Act 1961 is amended as set out in
Schedule 1 of the Bill.
Schedule 1--Same-sex marriages solemnised in a foreign country
Item 1 Section 88EA
This item repeals section 88EA that prohibits the recognition of marriage between same sex couples
solemnised in a foreign country.
In the place of the repealed section it substitutes a new section which explicitly establishes that unions
solemnised in a foreign country that are to be legally recognised as a marriage in Australia include
unions between a man and another man, and a woman and another woman.
This item also substitutes a section which establishes that parties to a union that is a same-sex
marriage solemnised in a foreign country will have the same rights and obligations under
Commonwealth law as a marriage in Australia between a man and a women.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Marriage Act Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex Couples)
Bill 2013
This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary
Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview
The Marriage Act Amendment (Recognition of Foreign Marriages for Same-Sex
Couples) Bill 2013 amends the Marriage Act 1961 to ensure that marriages that are
validly entered into in foreign countries can be recognised under the laws of Australia.
Human rights implications
This Bill does not negatively engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms. This Bill
positive engages with the following applicable rights or freedoms:
ICCPR Article 23
This Bill enhances the right of men and women of marriageable age by extending the
right of legal recognition of a marriage entered into in a foreign country to all people
regardless of whether they have married a same-sex or a different-sex partner.
ICCPR Article 26
This Bill enhances the right of gay and lesbian Australians to equal protection of the law.
Currently the law recognitions international marriages of different-sex couples, but
prohibits legal recognition of same-sex international marriages. This Bill removes
aspects of Australian marriage law that are discriminatory, and in doing so, enhances
equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status.
ICECSR Article 12
This Bill enhances the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health. It is the clear advice of Australia's top
psychological experts that, for same-sex couples who do wish to marry in Australia or in
a foreign country, the continued discrimination against them in existing marriage laws is
a source of great mental anguish and sometimes mental ill-health.
By removing the discrimination from Australia's laws, this Bill reduces in part the
overall discrimination and alienation suffered by gay and lesbian people which may give
rise, in some people particularly young people, to an improvement in physical and mental
health.
Conclusion
This Bill is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any negative human rights
issues
Senator Hanson-Young