The High Court has thrown out the ACT’s same sex marriage laws ruling that marriage is the sole jurisdiction of the federal commonwealth.
In a unanimous decision the court ruled that the ACT’s same sex marriage laws could not operate concurrently with they federal Marriage Act 1961. The court said that the introduction of same sex marriage was a matter for the federal parliament.
The court described the federal legislation as a comprehensive and exhaustive statement of the law of marriage.
The decision puts the marriage equality debate solely in the realm of the federal parliament.
The move means the 30 marriages that same sex marriages that occurred in the last week are now invalid.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young for The Greens has announced that she will reintroduce a marriage equality bill into federal parliament today.
Yesterday Senator Hanson-Young teamed up with Labor Senator Louise Pratt and Senator Sue Boyce from the Liberal party to create a cross party working group to push forward the issue.
The summary of the judgement can be read here.
More to come
