Register opens tomorrow

Register opens tomorrow

Same-sex couples who want to register their relationships can do so from tomorrow, July 1.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos told Sydney Star Observer gay and lesbian couples can register their relationship with Births, Deaths and Marriages.

“Persons will be required to sign a statutory declaration to be able to effect the registration, and that will then lead to a formal process which will include evidence of identity, age, eligibility and so forth being provided to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages,” Hatzisgeros said.

“The parties must be in a committed exclusive relationship — they mustn’t be married or in another relationship that’s registered or registerable. They need to be over the age of 18 years and one person is required to be a resident of NSW.”

From tomorrow couples will be able to obtain the required forms from the Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages or download them from their website.

Once all documentation has been accepted, there is a 28-day cooling-off period during which either partner can cancel the process. A registration fee of $144 — the same as that charged married couples — applies.

[poll id=”34″]

Couples can request the revocation of their registered status, but if only one partner wishes to do so there is a 90-day cooling-off period before the status is revoked. Couples revoking their registered status will be charged a fee of $72.

Recognition is revoked automatically if a partner dies or marries.

The NSW Government is also working to ensure that relationships registered under its scheme will be recognised under the ACT’s civil unions scheme, and under the state registry schemes operating in Victoria and Tasmania.

“We’re working with those jurisdictions to ensure that there’s recognition of arrangements under our law and that they recognise our provisions under their laws and also with the Commonwealth,” Hatzistergos said.

He said he believed the Commonwealth was drafting legislation which would allow that to occur.

The NSW scheme already has provisions recognising relationships registered in other states and territories for the purpose of NSW law.

However, people who are registered in civil unions or civil partnerships outside Australia are not covered and will have to re-register with a state or territory registry scheme to retain their status in Australia.

info: The NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages website is www.bdm.nsw.gov.au

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14 responses to “Register opens tomorrow”

  1. Jaimes, a factual correction.

    1. Same-sex couples in NSW have rights and privileges regardless of whether they register.

    2. The register is also open to heterosexual couples.

    Essentially, since 1999 we have been recognised in NSW in the same manner as straight de facto couples; the register allows formal recognition of that.

  2. Can you imagine, back in the days when they were still discussing whether to grant non-whites equal rights, if instead they had said “look, we still don’t believe you are truly human like the rest of us, and we’re not going to grant you status as equal to us but HEY we’ll give you this funky little resister, if you want to register your status as a human being you can do that and I guess we won’t mind too much. Gosh, aren’t we a SWELL bunch?”

    What an absolute load of bollocks. I am offended by the very idea of making a segment of the population register for any right or privelege that is freely accorded to the rest of the population, based on their sexuality.

  3. Also in South Australia is the only statein Australia to ban surrogacy and/or IVF/ART procedures on single women and lesbians since 1988. That also means the there is no “co-mother and co-father parentage” as well.

    Even though federal law does recognise both “co-mother” parentage and “co-father” parentage under the Family Law Act 1975 since 1 March 2009.

    Remember federal law overrides state laws under section 109 of the Australian Consitution!!!!

  4. It iss a welcome start – but lets finish the job in 3 areas:

    (a) gay and bisexual men in Australia still can not donate blood;

    (b) Adoption laws still need to include same sex couples in NSW, NT, VIC, QLD, SA and TAS* (Both WA and ACT already provide same sex couples with adoption equality since 2003 and Tasmania does not allow same sex couples the right to adoption someone else’s children – but you can adopt your own children);

    (c) Marriage laws that come under the federal jurisdiction also needs to include same sex couples.

  5. I agree. How would a straight woman like it if her husband suddenly married someone else and the original marriage was automatically rendered null and void? For that matter, how would a straight couple feel if they had to remarry every time they crossed a bloody state border?
    I’m sorry Tats, but these are pretend rights. Why should we be grateful for what we’ve been given? What are we, lepers?

  6. Another issue is that “Recognition is revoked automatically if a partner dies or marries”. This shows that a person can just off and leave their partner to marry a different-sex individual with this overiding any legal standing of the same-sex relationship. Imagine being able to go off and marry another without having to first go through the process of divorce. It suggests that the marriage to a different-sex person has priority over the relationship with a same-sex person.

  7. Dear Editor,

    Could you please rephrase the wording of the poll, “Will you be registering your relationship?”

    Partners are partners – it will be a joint decision between partners.

    For instance – “Yes, we can’t wait”, or , “NO, we just don’t care”.

    It is a new area for all of us, including Sydney Star Observer Newspaper.

  8. The problem with all of these relationship registries is that the legislation they are created under specifically disallows registration if a person is married. My husband and I were married (24 December 2008) in South Africa. Our marriage is not recognised here, however, the fact that we are legally married means we are not allowed to register our relationship in Victoria (where we live). That is, not without denying that we are married, something that we will not do. We are legally married, whether or not the Australian Federal Government recognises it, and are therefore excluded from the relationship registers. We need another law that specifically recognises overseas marriages as a relationship in Australia – once again “seperate but equal” proves to be unequal. The only real solution is full recognition of same-sex marriage. Anything else is a way of saying that gays are second-class citizens.

  9. Personally I believe that this is a good step forward for Australia, I mean… we’re all up in fucking arms about ‘equal rights’ and all that bull shit, then when they start giving us those rights it’s not good enough…
    Personally I think the GLBT community needs to stop being so ungrateful and appreciate what we’ve been given… it’s better than nothing!
    I will be registering with my Life Partner.

  10. Oh what a crock of shit is this register and Mr Hats’ description that you must not be in another married or de facto relationship at the time. The reality in life and the law is that a person can in fact be in both a marriage and a de facto relationship. It’s called cheating/philandering/having a mistress/whatever, and our Family law Act accommodates such a circumstance. Mr Hats’ legislation is inconsistent with this reality. But otherwise, why would you bother with all the stuffing around required when it doesn’t actually confer any rights or benefits upon you?

  11. registration is tantamount to giving over future social service benefits – be warned!!!

  12. This legislation creates is a bit of a dilemma for gay people don’t you think? I am 72 and I suspect that I will never see gay marriage in this country in my life time and, what about those Icelanders with their unanimous parliament vote for gay marriage. Wow, how civilised! However, this legislation reminds me a bit like throwing crumbs to dogs and watching as they eagerly sniff out each small morsel, and I for one, would not register.
    I opted out of Federal and State politics some years ago as a protest to politicians who refuse to ‘normalise’ me. These days I front up on polling days, have my name ticked off, and then inscribe on the ballot papers ‘No gay rights-no vote-that simple’. You may think that is defeatist but let me tell you I feel great every time that I do it and imagine what a stir it would cause at the next federal election if all gay Aussies did the same thing.