Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie has called on the Government to lift a bureaucratic barrier which prevents same-sex couples from marrying overseas.
Some countries require couples to provide a Certificate of No-Impediment to Marriage (CNI) from their home country in order to marry legally. The Australian Government issues the CNIs to heterosexual couples but it has a policy of not issuing them to same-sex couples.
Mr Wilkie says the Government’s refusal to acknowledge the couples is mean-spirited and petty.
Neither Labor nor the Coalition supports gay marriage, although the Labor Party is due to debate the issue at its national conference later this year.
Mr Wilkie has asked Prime Minister Julia Gillard to reverse the CNI policy.
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