HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-05-05 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

DUNCAN, DR G.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:39): As a very proud member of Rainbow Labor, and a long-time anti-discrimination campaigner, I was honoured today to be invited to address a commemoration service for the late Dr George Ian Ogilvie Duncan which will be held next Tuesday, 10 May, at 1pm. The service is being held at the footbridge over the Torrens near the Barr Smith Lawns. Some people may remember that 39 years ago, Dr Duncan, then as a 41 year old, drowned in the Torrens river. I was at the service in 2002, where the Hon. Sandra Kanck, the Hon. Ian Hunter, who was then secretary of the ALP, and I saw the unveiling of the monument erected near the site of that murder.

The memorial inscription really does summarise the need for commemorating Dr George Duncan. It says:

In memory of Dr George Duncan whose death by drowning on 10 May 1972 near here, at the hands of persons unconvicted, precipitated homosexual law reform in South Australia, making it the first state in Australia in 1975 to decriminalise homosexual relations.

The history of this legislation is very interesting as well, and I understand that Liberal member of the Legislative Council Murray Hill introduced a bill in July 1972 to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 that decriminalised homosexuality. It was an interesting approach, I thought, to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act. The amendment was assented to in November 1972 but I am told was actually diminished in its form, as it only allowed a legal defence—again, another interesting aspect—for homosexual acts committed in private.

In 1972, under the Dunstan government, the Labor member for Elizabeth, Peter Duncan, introduced the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill into parliament and it was passed in this house, the House of Assembly. This bill was then defeated twice in the Legislative Council—again, some lessons that can be learnt, I think, from current times. I am advised that on 27 August 1975 the unaltered bill was again introduced, defeated, reintroduced, defeated, reintroduced and, on the third time, passed. All that happened on the same day, apparently, so I guess we can be grateful for some things. South Australia became the first Australian state to fully decriminalise homosexuality.

The agenda is still with us, however. The agenda today is to address other forms of discrimination based on sexuality, transexuality and also sexual orientation. This agenda includes issues in regard to same-sex parenting rights (which a number of us in both this house and the Legislative Council, particularly the Hon. Ian Hunter, are trying to progress), extending anti-discrimination and vilification rights and, also, the campaign for same-sex marriage rights.

I hope that members of this house will pass a thought on 10 May for Dr George Duncan who, unfortunately by his death, has precipitated great anti-discrimination legislation.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT