Equality Tasmania has urged their state government to accept a cross-party committee recommendation that people convicted under the state’s former laws criminalising homosexuality and cross-dressing receive financial redress of up to $75,000, saying it will be an important step towards healing for those affected.
Today, the state parliament’s Gender and Equality Committee issued a report recommending those against whom action was taken under the state’s former laws prohibiting homosexuality and cross-dressing be granted $15,000 if they were charged but not convicted, $45,000 if they were convicted, and $75,000 if they were jailed or subject to other punishments such as court-ordered conversion practices.
The redress would be available automatically upon the expungement of a historic gay or cross-dressing criminal record.
The recommendation was endorsed by Committee members from all parties, including the governing Liberal Party, in a consensus decision. If and when the recommendation is enacted, Tasmania will become the first state to provide financial redress for historic gay convictions.
Equality Tasmania spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said he hoped the government would follow through on the report recommendations.
“We praise the Committee for its compassion and urge the Government to embrace the recommendation as an important step towards healing for those who suffered under our former laws against homosexuality or cross-dressing.”
“People convicted under Tasmania’s former laws often lost their jobs and their families; suffered discrimination, ostracism, fines and gaol time, and endured the stigma of a criminal record for decades.”
“The financial redress recommended by the Gender and Equality Committee will provide some recompense for those who suffered under our former laws, send them the message the state is truly sorry for what it inflicted on them and help them heal.” Croome said.
Tasmania was the last state to decriminalise homosexuality (in 1997) and the only state to criminalise cross-dressing (until 2000). The maximum penalty of 21 years in prison for homosexuality was the harshest in the western world.
In 2017, the state enacted legislation allowing those charged or convicted under the state’s former laws against homosexuality or cross-dressing to apply to have their records expunged.
Then Premier, Will Hodgman, apologised for the former laws and said homosexuality and cross-dressing should never have been against the law.
In 2020, financial redress for those who successfully applied to have their record expunged was recommended by an Independent Review.
The Government introduced legislation acting on all the Review’s recommendations except financial redress.
The Lower House supported an amendment from the Greens appointing an independent assessor to determine the amount of redress.
In the Upper House the Government offered up to $5000 redress and the bill was sent to the Gender and Equality committee to consider the issue.
The Committee rejected the Government’s proposal of up to $5000 as “manifestly inadequate”.
There have been no successful applications to expunge a criminal record for homosexuality or cross-dressing thus far, so it is not expected there will be many pay outs.
Legal expert Professor Paula Gerber from Monash University also welcomed the release of the committees recommendations.
“There is a saying that: ‘There should be no wrong without a remedy’. The Recommendations of the Tasmanian Committee on Gender and Equality regarding the payment of compensation under the Expungement of Historical Offences Amendment Bill 2024, exemplifies this principle.” Professor Gerber said.
“The proposed tiered amounts of compensation reflect the degree of harm suffered by persons who were subjected to the heinous laws criminalising same-sex sexual conduct, and I commend the Committee for their comprehensive review and their commitment to righting this wrong.
“As the first state in Australia to address the issue of redress for men persecuted under the laws criminalising same-sex sexual conduct, Tasmania has provided valuable guidance on how these historic wrongs can be addressed with compassion and respect.
“I urge the Tasmanian Government to implement the Committee’s recommendations, and all Australian states and territory governments to follow Tasmania’s lead.” Professor Gerber said.
Labor welcome the recommendation
Labor’s Shadow Attorney General and Minister for Equality Ella Haddad welcomed the recomendation.
“It’s a sad period of Tasmania’s history that saw people charged with crimes, simply for being in a relationship with someone of the same sex. Shockingly, it remained a criminal offence to be homosexual until 1997 and cross dressing was not decriminalised until 2000.” Haddad said.
“For some time Tasmania has had a process in place for people who were wrongfully convicted under these outdated laws to have those offences expunged or removed from their criminal record.
“However Labor has also called for this process to be added to with ex gratia payments to be made available by way of compensation to people convicted in this way.
“We recognise many of the people who still have these wrongful convictions on their record are now of an advanced age. Many of them lost their jobs, livelihoods and loved ones as a result of homosexuality being a crime, and have lived with decades with the shame of this. They deserve justice.” Haddad said.
The Shadow Attorney General called on the government to move swiftly and take action.
“We encourage the government to act swiftly to implement this recommendation that ex gratia payments be made available to people who have these historic convictions expunged – it’s the right thing to do.”
