ࡱ> /10` bjbjss 7 $T x$,$Ph*WWW.WWWW 0 n.jW0$W_WWLWM $xxx xxx  Email to: samesex@humanrights.gov.au Date: 01 June 2006 NAME: Lyn Holowaty CONTACT DETAILS: [Details removed] ________________________________________ Submission to the Same Sex=Same Entitlements Inquiry. ________________________________________ Dear HREOC, Thank you for the opportunity to make a public submission to the National Inquiry into Discrimination against People in Same Sex Relationships: Financial and Work-Related Entitlements and Benefits. ________________________________________ PERSONAL BACKGROUND I am a 61 year old mother of a gay man in a long term relationship. I have a son who is in a long term same sex relationship. I have seen some of my son and his partners gay friends relationships crumble as do many straight relationships, due to many things, but often due to financial stresses. Then I see the ways in which they are still discriminated against. I am amazed that our government would not do everything it could to encourage these relationships to stay together as they do with heterosexual relationships. Below are some of the ways they are discriminated against financially which I believe make same sex relationships harder to maintain then heterosexual relationships. Same sex couples get less benefits by companies that restrict benefits to married Couples and yet our government has entrenched laws that stop them getting married. This costs my son and his partner thousands of dollars a year. They do not get the same financial benefits of a Medicare safety net that other couples get. This could cost them money each year. They can lose each others superannuation much easier then a straight couple, married or not, should one of them die. Nor can they get all superannuation tax rebates in the same way as heterosexual couples. For tax purposes, homosexual couples are not able to get dependant spouse rebate on their tax. This can effect them adversely. At a time when a good strong relationship may mean better health and less diseases for Australians I believe that our government should be doing everything it can to make it easier for all couples to stay together. Not just heterosexual couples. It is time the laws that adversely effect or rule out gay people were updated so all Australians are treated equally. Yours sincerely Lyn Holowaty ]nT U vw  TUh}h,gzCJOJQJ^JaJhuCJOJQJ^JaJh4#CJOJQJ^JaJ%9L M N O 5 6  )* 7$8$H$gd4#*yz 7$8$H$gd4# 50P:p4#/ =!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No ListHH _ Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJ  z %9L MNO56)*yz !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!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1%9L MNO56)*yz 0000000000000000000000000000000000000%9L MNO56)*yz h0#h0"h0 h0 h0&h0&h0&h0&h0&h0&h0%h0#h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0h0 h0 h0h0 h0 h0 h0 h0 h0h0 6h0 h0 h0 *  8@0(  B S  ? $CK  .8osbh ::::::::]n  SS  TUvwDD  TU       u4#YCndy,gz}Y_+ {s@  `@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial?5 z Courier New5& zaTahoma"qhmۦFmۦFk:k:!24d2QX)?4#2Oh+'0d   , 8DLT\ Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@@@k՜.+,0 px  :  Title  !#$%&'(),Root Entry F Wp..1TableWordDocument7SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8"CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry F0 31TableWordDocument7SummaryInformation(  !2DocumentSummaryInformation8pCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q՜.+,D՜.+,< px  :  Title4 $,