The ACT's second attempt to give equal rights to same-sex couples under ACT law appears to have failed, before even being debated in the Legislative Assembly. Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has announced that he will over-ride the bill again if it is passed, because it is still too similar to marriage.
Mr Ruddock argued that the Civil Partnerships Bill undermined marriage because it allowed couples to celebrate their partnership with a formal ceremony, like a marriage, and it allowed 16-year-olds to register a relationship, as long a court approved.
"I mean this is not a partnership arrangement involving adults, it involves the potential for minors, in the same way that the marriage act does, to have a court or parental consent and it uses the marriage model directly," Mr Ruddock said.
ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, disputed Mr Ruddock's claims. "It just beggars belief that we have a Commonwealth Government that really isn't able to give any substantive argument and just says, 'well we think it offends the institution of marriage' - well what does that mean," he told the Canberra Times.
“Far from preventing the undermining of the institution of marriage, the Federal Government’s actions would instead ironically undermine the progress of the institution of democracy in Australia that should foster inclusion and diversity rather than adopt a process of marginalisation,” Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) Co-Convenor Simon Biber argued. CAAH will be holding a candlelight vigil in Sydney on Friday evening to protest the federal government's action.
Mr Ruddock denied he was been discriminatory. ""Our principal concern is to where we can, to remove discrimination," he said. In the last week, the federal government has announced legislation that will prevent same-sex couples from adopting children overseas.
Liberal senator Gary Humphries said he believed the ACT government had addressed the federal government's concerns, and had offered to act as a mediator between the two governments. If the ACT was a state, instead of a territory, the federal government would be unable to over-ride the law.
Gay rights activist Rodney Croome believes that the federal government is using their opposition to the law as a tactic ahead of this year's federal election.
Ruddock is hoping "to corral religious and socially conservative voters, and wedge federal Labor while causing barely a ripple in broader public opinion." he said on his blog.