Third Time Unlucky?
Zoe Brain
http://aebrain.blogspot.com/2009/11/third-time-unlucky.htmlI live in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
Twice now, the local legislature has enacted provisions that would parallel the "Civil Unions" or "Civil Partnerships" that are found in other countries, which are deemed an acceptable alternative to marriage when it comes to same-sex relationships, and marriage itself is forbidden.
Twice, the liberal (ie Right of Centre) Federal Government has stepped in, disallowing such legislation. They can do that, because the ACT is a territory, not a state. It's about the only significant difference between the two concepts. Such intervention has only been used three times in Australia's history, all by the previous government. Once against the Northern Territory's legislation to legalise euthenasia under very strictly limited conditions, and twice against the ACT on this issue.
