– Sources to be Australian – AGLC 3rd Edition Referencing Format – When she introduced the Same-Sex Marriage Bill 2013 (WA), Green Senator the Hon Lynn McLaren said:
During the past year we have witnessed an increasingly popular campaign for marriage equality in Australia. The Australian Capital Territory was the first jurisdiction to pass legislation in Australia. Ceremonies began there last weekend. We heard this morning that those marriages, some 20 of them, have been or will be annulled, following the High Court decision….Similar bills have been introduced in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania. This bill is a different bill; I have learned from the experiences in the other jurisdictions. The Same-Sex Marriage Bill 2013 has been amended according to what we have learned from those other experiences…The Same-Sex Marriage Bill 2013 sets up a separate form of same-sex marriage at the state level that is conceptually distinct from marriage provided for by the federal Marriage Act 1961, and provides for same-sex marriages between adults; authorisation of celebrants to solemnise same-sex marriages; amendments to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 to provide for the registration of same-sex marriages; amendments to the Family Court Act 1997 to provide for the dissolution and annulment of same-sex marriages and for other related financial matters; consequential amendments to other acts; and related purposes. (Hansard, Thursday 12 December 2013, p7667b-7669a).
In a public lecture delivered at Murdoch University’s School of Law on October 17, 2014 (“Exploring the constitutionality of the Same-Sex Marriage Bill 2013”), Professor George Williams expressed the view that despite the High Court’s decision in The Commonwealth v Australian Capital Territory [2013] HCA 55, Australian State Parliaments can still pass legislation permitting same sex marriage that will survive constitutional challenge. Augusto Zimmerman and Lorraine Finley from Murdoch’s Law School faculty have disagreed with that view http://newsweekly.com.au/article.php?id=56792.
Assume the Bill (attached) has been passed into law and that its validity is challenged by the Commonwealth. You are a junior barrister engaged to assist Brett Walker SC who has been engaged by the Greens and the West Australia gay lobby to defend the validity of the bill. Advise Mr Walker and these clients whether Williams or Zimmerman and Finley are right.
