Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Act 2017 Rushed Through Parliament
Thursday 14 September 2017 @ 9.34 a.m. | Legal Research
In light of the upcoming postal Marriage Law Survey regarding same-sex marriage, the Parliament of Australia has yesterday, 13 September 2017, pushed through the Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Bill 2017, and the Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Act 2017 (‘the Act’) has been assented to as Act 96 of 2017. Commencing immediately, the Act will be in operation until the result of the Marriage Law Survey is declared on 15 November 2017.
Rationale
The agency chosen to conduct the postal survey was the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This agency was chosen as it is an independent statutory agency, and is therefore independently operated from the Australian Government. Choosing an independent statutory agency to conduct the survey ensures that in collecting statistical information, the agency remains objective and impartial. In itself, the ABS has a number of legislative safeguards in place to ensure the privacy, confidentiality and security of the collected information.
In a media release on the 12th of September, Senator the Hon. Mathias Cormann, Minister for Finance, stated:
“The Government is honouring its commitment to give the Australian people a say on whether or not the law should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry through the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. [...]We have been exploring in good faith how we can complement existing legal protections under current laws further – principally by ensuring that all of the usual relevant safeguards under our Electoral Laws apply to this process as appropriate.”
The rationale behind the Act therefore is to complement the existing measures in place by the statutory framework surrounding the ABS.
Implementation
What the Act aims to implement is a safeguard for people and media agencies in giving their opinion on the issue of same-sex marriage and the postal survey. As stated in the explanatory memorandum, the intention of the Act is to promote: "transparency, accountability and traceability around communications of marriage law survey matters". These objectives are achieved through the implementation of statutory, criminal and civil standards of communication and broadcast in all matters surrounding the publication of communications regarding the same-sex survey.
One way that the Act ensures that opposing views are able to be heard is through complementing obligations on broadcasters. Implemented in Part 3 of the Act, one obligation is that broadcasters are required to give reasonable reasonable opportunities to broadcast opposing views of the marriage law survey as per section 11 of the Act. This section extends the operation of Clause 3 of Schedule 2 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, such that it requires broadcasts regarding the marriage law survey to give "a reasonable opportunity, to a representative of an organisation that holds an opposite view in relation to the question, to broadcast marriage law survey matter during" the commencement of the Act.
Additional measures implemented by the Act are information obtaining powers for the Electoral Commissioner; and criminal liability in regards to discriminatory, vilifying or threatening behaviour towards someone because of their views or beliefs in regards to the same-sex issue.
Under Part 4 of the Act, it is now, therefore, an offence to offer or receive a bribe which, under section 13(1)(b), will influence or affect a person's decision to "provide a marriage law survey response or the content of such a response". Another offence created by the Act is under section 14, whereby one person threatens another person, causing detriment to that or another person, and this threat is made with the intention of influencing or affecting an enrolled person's vote in the marriage law survey.
The Act additionally establishes, by section 15, that it is now an offence to vilify, intimidate or threaten to cause harm to another person because of:
- A person's views in relation to the marriage law survey;
- A person's religious conviction, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.
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Sources:
Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 (Cth) available from TimeBase's LawOne service
Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) available from TimeBase's LawOne service
Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Bill 2017 (Cth), Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speeches available from TimeBase's LawOne service
Marriage Law Survey (Additional Safeguards) Act 2017 (Cth) available from TimeBase's LawOne service
