Historical gay sex convictions extinguishment bill passes NSW Parliament lower house

Historical gay sex convictions extinguishment bill passes NSW Parliament lower house
Image: NSW Parliament House (Photo: Ann-Marie Calilhanna; Star Observer)

NSW Parliament’s Legislative Assembly has debated and passed the historical gay sex convictions extinguishment bill without amendments, making it the second jurisdiction in Australia to do so.

The first jurisdiction, Victoria, only achieved this on Tuesday night, with both houses of Victorian Parliament legislating the expungement of historical consensual gay sex convictions with bipartisan support.

The NSW bill, introduced by Coogee state Liberal MP Bruce Notley-Smith, will now be debated in the Legislative Council as soon as this afternoon or tomorrow, before it can be signed off into law.

However, with the full support of Premier Mike Baird, Opposition Leader John Robertson and all other MPs behind Notley-Smith’s bill, it’s almost guaranteed a smooth passage in the upper house.

Notley-Smith’s bill seeks to amend the Criminal Records Act 1991. Under the amendments, NSW residents could apply to extinguish convictions made before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1984, and up until 2003 when the discriminatory age of consent — for example, when a 17-year-old gay male was liable for prosecution for having consensual sex with a 16-year-old male — ended.

Once the bill passes the upper house, successful applications to have convictions extinguished means it would be like a quashed conviction or a pardon, and the person would not be required to disclose the conviction and a public authority would not be able to disclose the conviction.

The process to have those convictions extinguished is also outlined in the bill (more details here).

There also plans afoot in South Australia to introduce similar legislation.

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One response to “Historical gay sex convictions extinguishment bill passes NSW Parliament lower house”

  1. Victoria just passed a very similar bill just then too!

    The upper house will have a hard time to pass this very important bill – only because the bigot zealot Reverend Fred Nile doing everything in his power to block the bill (since he has the balance of power)!

    I welcome this bill (just read it) because it is long overdue for all gay men. It is time that we are truly equal under the law and correct the wrongs of the past and hopefully have marriage equality in about 2-3 years time!

    This is Australia, I was born here – the land of the fair go and we have boundless plains to share!