Constitutional expert, Prof George Williams, has confirmed that it is still possible for Tasmania to legislate for same-sex marriages.
Responding to yesterday’s High Court ruling against the ACT’s Marriage Equality Act, Prof Williams said,
“The High Court has ruled that the ACT Marriage Equality Act is inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act. It has not considered the position of any differently drafted state or territory law. It remains open to argue that such a law might not be inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act.”
Convener of Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality, Andrew Badcock, welcomed Prof Williams’ statement saying,
“Tasmania’s Same-Sex Marriage Bill is framed in a substantially different way to the overturned ACT Marriage Equality Act.”
“The ACT law was overturned because it drew on the definition of marriage in the federal Marriage Act, a problem the Tasmanian Bill avoids by creating a distinct legal status of same-sex marriage.”
Prof Williams acknowledged that the ACT High Court decision may make it “more difficult” for the Tasmanian Bill to survive a High Court challenge.
But Mr Badcock said that if the federal government fails to enact marriage equality he hopes Tasmania will still move ahead to become the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry.
“It remains the case that the only way to know if the Tasmanian Same-Sex Marriage Bill is constitutionally valid is for it to be passed and tested in the High Court.”
George Williams is a professor constitutional law at the University of NSW and the author of Australian Constitutional Law and Theory and The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia.
Convener of Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality, Andrew Badcock
