Gay adoption report delayed

Gay adoption report delayed

A final report into the NSW same-sex adoption inquiry has been postponed after the NSW Attorney General intervened in an Administrative Decisions Tribunal decision.

The highly anticipated report was due last month but has been held up while a decision is rendered in a landmark same-sex foster case, which went on appeal before the Administrative Decisions Tribunal two weeks ago.

The Wesley Mission last month appealed the decision from the 2008 case -˜OV and another v QZ and another’, in which it was found the religious-based organisation had unfairly discriminated against a same-sex couple who had applied to become foster parents.

The original case found that the organisation was not protected by religious exemptions in the Anti-Discrimination Act in its decisions to deny same-sex couples access to its foster services.

Wesley Mission was subsequently required to pay $10,000 in damages and to review its services to eliminate practices which discriminated against homosexuals.

The organisation has since appealed to the ADT to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Sydney Star Observer understands that Wesley’s action came backed by a statement from NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos, who intervened in the case. He is said to have made a submission pointing out the state’s reliance on religious organisations for community services.

The Star has requested a copy of the submission from both the ADT and the Attorney General’s office and is awaiting a response.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office denied that any comments made to the ADT favoured either side of the case.

The Attorney’s intervention in the case is not to -˜back’ or -˜support’ one party over the other. The Attorney has intervened to assist the Tribunal by providing a view as to the Government’s understanding of the effect of certain statutory provisions in the Anti-Discrimination Act, he said.

It is expected that a decision will not be made on the Wesley appeal case for several months.

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2 responses to “Gay adoption report delayed”

  1. It seems to me that any organisation providing social services should be not be allowed to discriminate unlawfully. If a religious organisation feels that it must discriminate against gay people on religious grounds, then it should get out of the business of providing social services.

  2. I am probably one of the few people I know who love Nathan Rees and Carmel Tebbutt, and I would love to vote for them at the next state election.

    However sadly I cannot vote for a government which has John Hatzistergos as Attorney General. Why is NSW, the state with the most number of gay and lesbian relationships according to the Census, falling behind other states such as Victoria and the ACT when it comes to recognising gay and lesbian relationships and their children?

    An easy, low cost, and relatively uncontrovertial measure for the NSW government to introduce now would be relationship registration. This would give clear access to our new rights, as couples could show this certificate if questioned about whether their relationship exists.

    Attorney-General Hatzistergos, this would be a good first step in the right direction, and could we request, hopefully one you will take before the next election?