Gay and Lesbian de facto couples may soon have access to federal family law courts on property settlement disputes thanks to a proposed amendment to the Family Law Act.
The reforms were introduced this week by the Rudd government and have been applauded by Gay and Lesbian Rights Groups.
Demetra Giannakopoulos, Co-convenor of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby welcomes the move saying that allowing cases to be heard in the family court will give privacy to relationship breakdowns same-sex couples have not previously been afforded.
"It's great and quite significant in addressing one of the worst aspects of inequality," she said.
"Given the recent delay in relation to commonwealth superannuation laws we hope that commonsense prevails. We hope we're not faced with the same delays as this is not a new issue."
Currently de facto couples only have access to State courts to resolve property matters, and the Family Court to resolve matters with children.
The move will allow all separating de facto couples to have their property law issues heard in the
same court as their child residence, contact and maintenance issues,
If passed it is thought the change will reduce costs and simplify the legal processes for same-sex couples facing relationship breakdown, as well as minimising the stress.
The decision was welcomed by the Victorian government who have awaited federal laws to change to enact state legislation since it was referred to the Commonwealth in 2002 under the Howard government.
Deputy Premier and Attorney General Rob Hulls congratulated the federal government for acting on Victoria's referral.
"The former Howard Government refused to act on this referral of powers by a number of states in 2002, allowing this discrimination to continue for years," Mr Hulls said in a statement.
"This situation forces de-facto couples to go to greater expense and effort than married couples to deal with the often traumatic legal circumstances surrounding the breakdown of a relationship."
"This proposed change will ensure that all separating couples are treated equally by the courts," he said.
By ANDIE NOONAN
