Pirate Congress 2021/Motions/Policy and Platform/Marriage

PM-2 Marriage Policy update
Put by: Alex Jago, Roger Whatling, Sean O'Farrell, Andrew Downing

Motion
Update the Marriage Policy by replacing it with the following text, and also update Position Statement 2016-01's reference to the policy to read "two or more persons".

Marriage pre-dates all organisations by many thousands of years. The interests of the state, as opposed to the interests of any religion or political party, are limited to recognising permanent relationships, ensuring they are consensual and that any children have clear and capable guardianship.

The Marriage Act in its previous form, especially after 2004, denied many people a human right that is taken for granted by most. It reinforced stigmas at a time when anxiety was widespread and suicide attempts among LGBT persons far outstripped the general population. In 2017 a plebiscite effectively secured changes to the Marriage Act which resulted in expanding the definition of relationships from "a man and a woman" to "2 people", but failed to address the underlying principle.

The only effective way to secure civil rights and liberties is to return marriage to the community, to be interpreted by all in line with their own traditions and values. Establishment of a Civil Unions Act, to replace the Marriage Act, would offer equal treatments, rights, and recognition to all under the law.

Pirate Party Australia advocates the following reforms:

Replace the Marriage Act 1961 with a Civil Unions Act
 * People in a union under the Civil Unions Act will be afforded the same rights and equivalent legal and monetary benefits as available under the current Marriage Act.
 * Civil unions will be available to all (and only) consenting adults.
 * Adults in legally recognised unions from overseas will be recognised under this Act.
 * The institution of marriage will be removed from the purview of state authority.
 * The right of secular and religious organisations to offer ceremonies in adherence with their own beliefs would not be infringed.
 * No legal basis will be provided for any attempt to force any organisation to provide marriage services where such an act would be at odds with their organisational values.
 * Recognise polyamorous unions.
 * Require the consent of existing partners to add a new partner.
 * Require that any prospective partner be fully informed about existing partners.
 * Require explicit declarations of guardianship of children.
 * Existing recognition of de facto relationships would continue and expand to include polyamorous relationships.

Rationale
A few years ago, we updated the Marriage policy to both reflect the SSM plebiscite passing and quietly recognise polyamorous relationships - albeit quietly enough that the policy's been somewhat redundant since. The time has come to push this boundary forward explicitly.