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A community guide to the National Inquiry into Discrimination against People in Same-Sex Relationships: Financial and Work-Related Entitlements and Benefits

When I was a kid, I thought that, when I grew up, I might l like to be an astronaut or an actress, or a lawyer fighting for clients on death row. It changed by the season. But at no point, that I can remember, did I want to grow up to be gay.

Employment is fundamental to the lives of Australian families. For many individuals, work is their major activity outside the home, and ensures their family’s financial security.

Same-sex couples are not eligible for a range of rebates and tax concessions available to opposite-sex couples. This means same-sex couples may end up paying more tax than opposite-sex couples because tax legislation does not recognise their relationship.

Social security is an income support system that acts as a safety-net for people who, for some reason, are unable to financially support themselves. Entitlements to social security are largely governed by the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) (Social Security Act) and the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (Cth) (Family Assistance Act). The payments are usually administered by Centrelink.

It is simple to remove discrimination against same-sex couples in laws conferring financial and work-related benefits: amend the definitions describing a couple to include same-sex and opposite-sex couples alike.

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground...

This chapter explains how the provisions of international human rights treaties protect same-sex couples and their children, in the context of accessing financial and work-related entitlements. In particular, this chapter focuses on the right to non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. It also describes how the breach of that right can interfere with a range of other basic human…

Protecting the best interests of a child is one of the most important principles of international law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in particular. This chapter focuses on whether federal law currently protects the best interests of a child being raised by lesbian or gay parents.

The following chapter summarises the findings and recommendations made in each of Chapters 4 – 16 in this report. This chapter should be read in conjunction with Appendix 1 which sets out the list of legislation to be amended in order to eliminate discrimination against same-sex couples and their children.