ࡱ> 021` Jbjbjss 7J F" " " " . :,N N N N N N N N $fh*N N N N .N N N B `Q ծ" F 0:v4N r`\N N N { N N N : d $. Dear Commissioner, Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission on the human rights of people in same sex relationships in Australia. We strongly support the implementation of legislative reform which improves the social and legal status of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex relationships. As a gay couple in a long term committed relationship approaching nine years in length, we have been discriminated against in some significant areas of Commonwealth Government and ACT jurisdiction. These include: 1.taxation, as under the Income Tax Assessment Act we cannot legally split our income to limit our taxation liability in the same way that heterosexual couple can; 2. superannuation, as we are both members of the PSS (a Comsuper administered defined benefit fund), which expressly denies recognition of each other as significant dependents for the purposes of pensions, death benefits etc. by defining a spouse as a member of the opposite sex. Should one of us die, then we would only be able to inherent the death benefit via our wills/estate, with a much higher taxation treatment of that benefit; 3. property rights, to the extent that until recently the legislative tests on a dependent relationship were more strict than for heterosexual couples; and 4. inheritance, particularly in circumstances to do with legislatively defined benefits such as superannuation,and the ability to defend our rights to genuinely bequeathed estates from claims by unscrupulous third parties. Although these are not all areas in which the ACT Government has jurisdiction, it is encouraging to see the Territory Government's support for equal rights in areas where it can legislate.Clearly, we wish that the Commonwealth Government would end the abhorrent discrimination in areas where it has the jurisdiction. We must stress that these are equal, basic human rights that the gay/lesbian/queer community is seeking, not the "special gay rights" that some conservative proponents have espoused. Earlier this year we travelled to Canada (of which one of us is also a citizen) to visit family and friends.While we were there, we were married according to Canadian law, which as you may know, now recognises same sex spouses. We now have all the rights and liberties of a legally married couple in that country. It was interesting to contrast the development of the law in Canada and Australia, as there are so many similarities between the two countries. Of greatest interest was the degree of community acceptance of gays and lesbians as naturally equal members of society, not some distinct cohort seeking to undermine the inherent values of that society. Unfortunately, Australia seems to be steadfastly stuck in a bygone era when it comes to the human rights of sexual minorities. In terms of the model for recognition of same sex relationships, we commend the ACT government for its willingness to address this subject and for its introduction of the Civil Unions Act 2006. We certainlyhope that some form of relationship equality will soon be implemented for same sex couples in the rest of Australia, and that the appalling legacy of discrimination endemic in so many areas of the law is forever consigned to history. Thank you again for the opportunity to comment.We look forward to reading your final report. Yours sincerely, Gary Fan and Wayne Lodge [Details removed] h } ! u c w 8IJh h^CJOJQJ^JaJhHCJOJQJ^JaJh CJOJQJ^JaJ9 :   j k   %  8 7$8$H$gd J8J50P:p / =!"#$% H@H Normal CJOJQJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No ListH@H H Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJJ  z z J 9:jk%   8 L !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1 !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!19:jk%   8 L 000000000000000000000000000009:jk%   8 L h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0hJ 8J J  Yd Y a  YLa Ya Ya Y b YLb Yb Yb Y c YLc V a a - - L   \ j j 6 6 L  B *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-region9 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace PQ !)hzL nv %,L :::::|}!!ww 8 I L L ^t HTS {@J p@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial?5 z Courier New5& zaTahoma"qhç&ç&#' G#' G24d7 7 2X(? 2Oh+'0P    $08@H Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@@?ծ@?ծ#' ՜.+,0 px  G7   Title  !"$%&'()*-Root Entry FP"ծ/1TableWordDocument7SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8#CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry Fpn%41TableWordDocument7SummaryInformation(  !"3DocumentSummaryInformation8pCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q՜.+,D՜.+,< px  G7   Title4 $,