Australian govt overturns local gay marriage law

Conservative Prime Minister John Howard’s government has invoked special powers to invalidate a territory’s law that had been the first in Australia giving legal recognition to same-sex relationships.

The Australian Capital Territory, which includes the national capital Canberra, last month became the first of Australia’s six states and two territories to legally recognise gay and lesbian relationships.

The new law established a domestic relationship – separate to marriage – under which same-sex couples were to be given the same rights as heterosexual partnerships.

Officials in Howard’s centre-right coalition, which amended national marriage laws in 2004 to ensure that only men and women could marry – opposed the law, saying it effectively legalised gay marriage.

Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the government had used its power over territories, which have their own parliaments, to invalidate the law. The authority is rarely used.

“The ACT civil relationships ordinance has been disallowed,” Ruddock said in Canberra today.

“That means, in effect, that the legislative amendments introduced to establish a civil arrangement for same-sex parties and others in the ACT will no longer be law.”