Burning Words

There’s been an unfortunate twist in the ongoing civil unions saga. Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has just come out and stated his specific opposition to the ceremonial components of the Civil Partnerships Bill, and reaffirmed his demand that the ACT institute a relationship registry instead. ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell has, in response, reaffirmed what we were told at the rally on Sunday - that the ACT is firmly committed to the ceremonial element. It’s looking like we’re headed for a standoff.

Although Kevin Rudd pledged late last year that he wouldn’t override ACT legislation, this casts yet another shadow over the progress of the bill. It now appears that the rumored compromise of a residency requirement will be insufficient, which means that - as Rodney Croome points out - there’s nothing actually left that the two governments can compromise on.

In light of developments over the last couple of months, I’m a bit surprised that Rudd is taking such a hard line with the ACT government. There are obvious gains to be made from posturing to appease Christian conservatives, but the benefits are much less clear in picking a full-on brawl with another Labor government and in all probability the left wing of the federal party. Put simply, an override of the ACT bill would very seriously damage the little credibility Rudd has with progressives across the country. I believe that he’d have more to lose than to gain politically from such an action. I guess that, by forcing the ACT government into a stalemate, Rudd and McClelland are hoping that they’ll somehow manage to get the ACT government to give up and go for a relationship register.The problem with that, however, is that I cannot see the ACT government blinking.

The ACT Labor government is now nine months out from an election. They are in little danger of losing office, but they are the first majority government in the ACT’s history, and there have been numerous times throughout this term where that fact has saved them from major political brawls. This time, they face a serious threat from the Greens, who polled nearly a quarter of the vote in the Senate in November, and who stand on current polling to pick up an extra 2-3 seats, which would hand them the balance of power. I think the ACT government is pretty aware that this is perhaps their best opportunity before the election to win back progressive voters that’ve been alienated by some of Labor’s more controversial policies over the last four years, such as the massive amount of school closures, and I’m not the only one who’s been suggesting this in recent days. They’ve got nothing to gain from backing down on this - and quite a bit to lose.

As such, my gut feeling is that with no apparent possibility for further negotiation, there’s every chance the ACT government will plow ahead anyway and pass the Civil Partnerships Bill in either the March or April sittings - with or without the assent of the federal government. This would allow the bill to be passed well before the election, and would allow Jon Stanhope to play the “defender of territory rights” card which has worked well for him in the past, and which Corbell seemed to be pointing to on Saturday. We would then face a similar anxious wait to that we had two years ago with the federal Liberal government as to the likelihood of a federal override. My feeling right now is that, if that were to occur, the bill would stand. I just hope that Stanhope and Corbell have the courage to take that risk.

Tags: canberra, Civil Partnerships Bill, queer issues