Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr is going to personally lead a new push by ACT Labor for national reforms to allow gay marriage.
And Mr Barr says that generational change in the Australian Labor Party is bringing Australia’s same-sex couples ever closer to full marriage rights not just civil unions.
The Minister, who committed to his long-term partner, Anthony Toms, in a civil ceremony two years ago, will go to the Labor Party’s national conference in December to lead a move by ACT delegates to have the reform placed on the party’s policy platform. He will join other Labor state branches in calling for the Marriage Act to be reformed to remove the reference to marriage only being between a man and a woman, a move that would remove the necessity of states or territories legislating for civil unions.
The ACT branch of the party will ratify Mr Barr’s position at its own annual conference next Saturday after a deal was agreed between Labor’s various factional groupings in the territory.
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