ࡱ> )+*` jbjbjss .j^^^^ j         $9 h*( t t t ( =  t  t   v 0P ֮^   S 0    (L tP $( (  t t t t dd I am a Canadian lesbian who migrated to Australia in 1997, with my then 10-year old son, to join and live with my partner, an Australian citizen. In total, our relationship spanned 10 years, during 7 of which we lived together as a household in South Australia, blending our children (she has a daughter 6 months younger than my son). We lived in her home and I gave up my profession and income in Canada to live in Australia. We had discussed taking turns in terms of living in each others home country and being the main income earner. We proceeded, eventually successfully, through the Australian same-sex migration process, submitting many testimonials from family and friends as proof of our interdependent, same-as-defacto/married status. It took me several years to re-establish myself professionally in Australia and I spent all of my Canadian savings and super, as well as any income earned here, towards the support of our children and household. My partner was a doctor, fully employed, and I spent more hours looking after our children. Our relationship ended acrimoniously in 2004. I was asked to leave her house, the only home my son and I had in Australia. I was barely marginally financially able to support my son and myself at this point. Due to the lack of any legal same-sex recognition in South Australia (unlike Canada!!) I was unable to pursue any legal route to ask for property settlement or support, based on my years of contribution to the relationship and the disparity in outcomes. I sought legal advice and was told that, if we had been a heterosexual couple, I would have been entitled to a significant settlement, but that this was impossible in SA. My son has suffered in terms of opportunities and outcomes. I am in the rental market, unable to get ahead enough to purchase a home. I am unable to afford to relocate to Canada. Sincerely, Anne Nixon ijhhhCJ^JaJ  ! " PQ\]^ijgd j,1h. A!"#$% H@H Normal CJOJQJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No Listj "&j!"PQ\]^ilr v:r v:r v:r v: r v:r v:r v:r v:r v:r v:r !"PQ\]^il00000000000!"PQ\]^ilh0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0jj j  c4 clw ctc\tctccc$cqc,clR2*bcc((11)AAHHl     11::8GGNNl 9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStateB*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagscountry-region9 *urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace lSE      lJl:^^illl FuOoAy@EjP@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial"qhç&ç&E%E%!24dd2X(?2Oh+'0P    $08@H Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@F#@x֮@ʖ֮E%՜.+,0 px  d  Title  !"#&Root Entry F "֮(1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry F0%-1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation( ,DocumentSummaryInformation8pCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q՜.+,D՜.+,< px  d  Title4 $,