Gay marriage on ACT poll agenda

Attorney-General Simon Corbell moved yesterday to put the issue firmly on the election agenda but the Canberra Liberals signalled they wanted to fight the campaign on local issues and the cost of living.

After passing a bill late on Wednesday night that would strengthen the provisions of the territory's existing civil union laws, Mr Corbell said yesterday he was working with the Tasmanian government to develop full same-sex marriage legislation.

Wednesday night's bill, passed with ACT Greens support and against the objection of the Canberra Liberals, restores the role of ceremonies and celebrants in civil unions and gives same-sex couples the same rights as people married under the Marriage Act.

The legislation will effectively reinstate the ACT government's original civil union laws, which were overturned in 2006 by an intervention by the then Liberal federal government, which said the laws were too similar to marriage.

Mr Corbell said yesterday that he now wanted to push on, in collaboration with Tasmania, towards full marriage rights for Canberra's same sex couples.

''I am pleased that my Tasmanian counterpart, Attorney-General Brian Wightman, has agreed to proceed with discussions that would see our two progressive governments work together to further state and territory-based legislation to promote same-sex marriage,'' Mr Corbell said

The Attorney-General then challenged the opposition to declare whether it would repeal the amendments if it won government in October's territory election.

''I think this is an election issue for Canberrans,'' Mr Corbell said.

''I think Canberrans need to ask the Liberal Party, because they are so opposed to civil unions, are they going to repeal them, if they were elected to office?'' Mr Corbell asked.

''What is Zed Seselja's position, what is Vicki Dunne's position? If she was attorney-general, would she repeal this legislation?''

But Canberra Liberals law and justice spokeswoman Ms Dunne said her party was determined to keep the election focus on local services and the cost of living.

She would not commit to repealing the amendments if she won government in October.

''Our voting record is clear and plain and it goes back to 2007 and beyond, we have seen this approach already overturned once by the [federal] government and if we come into government after the October election we will look at this as we will look at many other things.

''We see that the issues for the people of Canberra are about good local services and the cost of living.

''I'm happy to talk about it [civil unions] if Simon Corbell wants to talk about it, but our priorities are local services and lowering the cost of living.''

Mrs Dunne, who favours a relationship register for same-sex couples, restated her party's opposition to the amendments passed on Wednesday night.

''We believe the current balance is right and that marriage is legislated in the federal sphere and if they attempt to go down this path, it will most likely be overturned by the Commonwealth,'' she said.

''We have a clear and constant approach that the Commonwealth legislates in the sphere of marriage and this legislation is ambiguous, it says it isn't like marriage but says that everything should be treated like marriage.''