THE ACT has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to legalise same-sex marriage after the bill passed the territory’s Legislative Assembly on October 22.
Same-sex marriages could take place as early as December, although the Federal Government will challenge the constitutionality of the legislation in the High Court.
A statement from the Attorney-General George Brandis’ office confirmed the challenge.
“It would be very distressing to individuals who may enter into a ceremony of marriage under the new ACT law, and to their families, to find that their marriages were invalid,” the statement read.
Despite the pending challenge, ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher said the territory government would not prevent same-sex couples from marrying in the interim.
The Marriage Equality (Same-Sex) Bill 2013 passed thanks to the support of Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, whose vote in favour of the bill gave it a 9-8 affirmative result.
All eight Liberal MLAs voted against the bill, while all eight Labor MLAs voted in favour of it.
Liberal Opposition leader Jeremy Hanson told the assembly the matter of legislating on issues of marriage was a federal issue and not for the ACT to decide.
“We are Australia’s smallest parliament in a small jurisdiction and we do not think that a majority of one person in the ACT should change the definition of marriage for a country of over 23 million people,” he said.
The bill was first tabled on September 19 and will allow same-sex couples to marry in the ACT, even though the Commonwealth Marriage Act 1961 defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Canberra has the largest proportion of same-sex couples in Australia, according to recent census data.
Earlier this week seven faith leaders in Canberra released a joint statement outlining their concerns with the bill. “We are concerned for the long-term risks of such a bill for our society,” the leaders said.
“We invite the wider community to join with us in calling for the bill to be subject to community consultation through the normal Legislative Assembly Committee process.”
The statement was signed by Islamic, Jewish and various Christian leaders, including Mgr John Woods, the administrator of the Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Archdiocese.