POSTED: 09 Feb 2018
After 61.6% of voters in a national postal survey voted ‘yes’ to grant same sex couples the right to marry, Australia has introduced new legislation to legalise the union of gay couples. The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (Cth) came into effect on 9 December 2017, officially marking Australia as the 26th country to legalise and support same sex marriage.The creation of this law has brought about several important changes, namely, altering the definition of marriage from ‘a union between a man and a woman’ to ‘a union between two people.’ Consequently, thousands of same sex couples have lodged Notices for Intended Marriage, with hundreds of couples being married as early as 12:01am on 9 January 2018...
Read more