ࡱ> *,+` bjbjss .$ 88  $$h*   ] ] ] .  ] ] ] ] l ! ]  08 ] 7 ] ] { < 0 "]  S 8 888$\$888\ Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this Inquiry. I have been living with my same sex partner for 27 years. We own a house together and use the same bank account. To our friends, family and acquaintances we are a couple. But not to anyone official in the State or Federal sphere. There is no place for me to tick on forms to describe my status - not on medical forms, the census, tax forms, insurance etc and everytime I fill in a form I feel like I am being asked to deny my relationship. Often I have made my own box called same-sex defacto but it doesn't seem right to me that society is blind to our relationship and that is what really hurts. To guard against some possible discrimination we have set up our own superannuation fund (the bequeathihng of my monetary interest to my partner was at the discretion of the directors of the fund before), we have drawn up mutual powers of attorney and lodged them with our lawyer to be enacted if either of us should be unable to manage our affairs, and we have clear directions in our wills. As far as financial discrimination goes I am discriminated against whenever income splitting would benefit us in taxation or superannuation terms. My Commonwealth Superannuation Pension does not go to my partner on my death, the Medicare Safety Net does not apply to us as a couple. On a NSW State basis I have lesbian friends who have had to split up before they could legally adopt children although it would have been far more beneficial for the care of the children to have been shared between two people. I would be happy to answer any questionnaires or take part in focus groups if that becomes part of your study. Elaine Spicer [Details removed] <? $ ' B E ),h}h{CJOJQJ^JaJhY(GhY(GCJOJQJ^JaJ=? % ' C E *,gdY(G,1h. A!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No ListHH { Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJ "&=?%'CE*,r v:r r v:r r v:r r v:r r v:r r v:r r r r v:r v:r =?%'CE*,00000000000000000=?%'CE*,@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0@0   5   \JJNMSS9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceType=*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceName )0:!lRrw-3a^Rrw-l Rrw-\ Rrw-b!Rrw-I_Rrw-jJRrw-Rrw-Z9/Rrw-%9Rrw-4=Rrw-=GRrw-Mu=IRrw-CbJRrw-8_NRrw-v[Rrw-u]Rrw-L jRrw-:{Rrw-Pu~Rrw- F:?CY(GCny}SH%{@Q`@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial5& zaTahoma"qh22:  : !24d2P)?Y(G2Oh+'0d   , 8DLT\ Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@F#@]@]:՜.+,0 px      Title  !"#$'Root Entry FCl)1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry FE7Š.1Table WordDocument.SummaryInformation( -DocumentSummaryInformation8pCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q՜.+,D՜.+,< px      Title4 $,