2009 THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (As presented) (Attorney-General) Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Contents Page 1 Name of Act 2 2 Commencement 2 3 Legislation amended 2 4 How civil partnership is entered into Section 6A (b) 2 5 Notice of intention to enter into civil partnership Section 8A (1) 2 6 Section 8A (1), note 2 3 7 New section 8A (2A) 3 8 Declaration of civil partnership Section 8B (1) 3 J2009-848 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] Page 9 New section 8BA 3 10 When civil partnership has effect Section 8C (2) 4 11 Offences Section 15A (1) (a) 4 12 Section 15A (2) (a) 4 13 New section 21 5 14 Reviewable decisions Schedule 1, item 1, column 2 6 Schedule 1 Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 7 contents 2 Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (As presented) (Attorney-General) Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) A Bill for An Act to amend the Civil Partnerships Act 2008, and for other purposes The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory enacts as follows: J2009-848 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] 1 1 Name of Act 2 This Act is the Civil Partnerships Amendment Act 2009 (No 2). 3 2 Commencement 4 This Act commences on the day after its notification day. 5 Note The naming and commencement provisions automatically commence on 6 the notification day (see Legislation Act, s 75 (1)). 7 3 Legislation amended 8 This Act amends the Civil Partnerships Act 2008. 9 Note This Act also amends the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration 10 Act 1997 (see sch 1). 11 4 How civil partnership is entered into 12 Section 6A (b) 13 substitute 14 (b) unless the couple may marry under the Marriage Act 1961 15 (Cwlth), making a declaration of civil partnership under 16 section 8B (Declaration of civil partnership) and having their 17 relationship registered under section 8BA (Registration of 18 relationship after declaration of civil partnership). 19 5 Notice of intention to enter into civil partnership 20 Section 8A (1) 21 after 22 civil partnership notary 23 insert 24 and to the registrar-general page 2 Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] 1 6 Section 8A (1), note 2 2 omit 3 civil partnership is entered into 4 substitute 5 declaration of civil partnership is made 6 7 New section 8A (2A) 7 insert 8 (2A) The notice must specify the day on which the 2 people intend to 9 make a declaration of civil partnership under section 8B. 10 8 Declaration of civil partnership 11 Section 8B (1) 12 substitute 13 (1) Two people who have given notice to the registrar-general and a 14 civil partnership notary in accordance with section 8A may make a 15 declaration of civil partnership before the civil partnership notary 16 and at least 1 other witness. 17 9 New section 8BA 18 insert 19 8BA Registration of relationship after declaration of civil 20 partnership 21 (1) If the registrar-general is satisfied that 2 people have made a 22 declaration of civil partnership under section 8B, the 23 registrar-general must register their relationship as a civil 24 partnership by making an endorsement to that effect on the notice 25 that they gave the registrar-general under section 8A. Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) page 3 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] 1 (2) The endorsement must specify the day on which the registration is 2 taken to have effect, which must be-- 3 (a) the day specified in the notice; or 4 (b) if the registrar-general is satisfied that the civil partnership 5 declaration was made on another day--the day that the 6 registrar-general considers appropriate in the circumstances. 7 10 When civil partnership has effect 8 Section 8C (2) 9 substitute 10 (2) A civil partnership entered into as mentioned in section 6A (b) has 11 effect on the day specified by the registrar-general under 12 section 8BA (2). 13 11 Offences 14 Section 15A (1) (a) 15 substitute 16 (a) the notary allows a declaration of civil partnership, or a 17 purported declaration, to be made before the notary; and 18 12 Section 15A (2) (a) 19 substitute 20 (a) the notary allows a declaration of civil partnership, or a 21 purported declaration, to be made before the notary; and page 4 Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] 1 13 New section 21 2 insert 3 21 Transitional--application of Civil Partnerships 4 Amendment Act 2009 (No 2) 5 (1) The amendments made by the Civil Partnerships Amendment 6 Act 2009 (No 2) apply to declarations made under section 8B after 7 the commencement day. 8 (2) If-- 9 (a) before the commencement day, 2 people gave notice to a civil 10 partnership notary under section 8A as then in force; and 11 (b) the 2 people have not made a declaration under section 8B by 12 the commencement day; 13 the 2 people may make a declaration of civil partnership under 14 section 8B (as amended by the Civil Partnerships Amendment 15 Act 2009 (No 2)) as if-- 16 (c) the notice they gave to the civil partnership notary had also 17 been given to the registrar-general; and 18 (d) the notice specified, as the day on which the 2 people intended 19 to make a declaration of civil partnership, the day on which 20 they make their declaration of civil partnership. 21 (3) A civil partnership entered into, before the commencement day, by 22 2 people making a declaration under section 8B as then in force 23 continues to have effect as a civil partnership under this Act (as in 24 force after the commencement day) as if-- 25 (a) the registrar-general had been given the notice that the 2 people 26 gave under section 8A as it was in force; and Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) page 5 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] 1 (b) the registrar-general had registered the people's relationship as 2 a civil partnership by making an endorsement to that effect on 3 the notice, and had specified in the endorsement that the 4 registration is taken to have effect on the day on which the 5 declaration was made; and 6 (c) the civil partnership had come into effect, because of the 7 registration of the relationship, on the day specified in the 8 endorsement. 9 (4) This section is a law to which the Legislation Act, section 88 10 (Repeal does not end effect of transitional laws etc) applies. 11 (5) This section expires 1 year after the day it commences. 12 (6) In this section: 13 commencement day means the day the Civil Partnerships 14 Amendment Act 2009 (No 2) commences. 15 14 Reviewable decisions 16 Schedule 1, item 1, column 2 17 after 18 8 (1) (b) 19 insert 20 or 8BA (1) page 6 Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] Amendment [1.1] 1 Schedule 1 Births, Deaths and Marriages 2 Registration Act 1997 3 (see s 3) 4 [1.1] Section 32A (1) (b) 5 substitute 6 (b) the registrar-general registers a relationship as a civil 7 partnership under the Civil Partnerships Act 2008, section 8BA 8 (Registration of relationship after declaration of civil 9 partnership). 10 [1.2] Section 32AA (1) (b) 11 substitute 12 (b) the registrar-general registers a relationship as a civil 13 partnership under the Civil Partnerships Act 2008, section 8BA 14 (Registration of relationship after declaration of civil 15 partnership). 16 [1.3] Section 32AA (3) 17 omit 18 If a civil partnership is entered into 19 substitute 20 If 2 people make a declaration of civil partnership 21 [1.4] Section 32AA (3) 22 omit 23 the day the civil partnership is entered into 24 substitute 25 the day the declaration is made Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) page 7 Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au [Page Break] Amendment [1.5] 1 [1.5] Section 32AA (3) (a) 2 substitute 3 (a) written notice of the making of the declaration; 4 [1.6] Section 32AA (4) 5 omit Endnotes 1 Presentation speech Presentation speech made in the Legislative Assembly on 2009. 2 Notification Notified under the Legislation Act on 2009. 3 Republications of amended laws For the latest republication of amended laws, see www.legislation.act.gov.au. © Australian Capital Territory 2009 page 8 Civil Partnerships Amendment Bill 2009 (No 2) Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au