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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-04 Daily Xml
Contents
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Motions

Decriminalisation of Homosexuality 50th Anniversary

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (15:22): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes that on 27 August 1975, South Australia became the first jurisdiction in the nation to decriminalise male homosexuality, with the passage of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1975, which commenced operation on 2 October 1975;

2. Expresses its regret to the many South Australians who were charged with and convicted of criminal offences simply for being their authentic selves;

3. Recognises that in making these reforms, our state began a process which would be repeated in every Australian state and territory;

4. Acknowledges that in 2025, South Australia will commemorate this nation-leading legislation and mark its 50th anniversary;

5. Expresses its support for the community coming together to celebrate this anniversary, and our state’s role in leading the way on LGBTQIA+ law reform;

6. Celebrates the passage of other landmark LGBTQIA+ law reform in South Australia; and

7. Commits to continuing to work toward equality for all South Australians.

This year, South Australia is marking an extraordinary milestone: 50 years since we became the first jurisdiction to decriminalise homosexuality. I think it would be hard for many South Australians to conceptualise that only 50 years ago male homosexuality was a criminal offence in this state. Yet for anyone over the age of 50, that is within their lifetime. After such long periods of discrimination and of hatred, the speed of the change towards equality for the LGBTQIA+ community has been relatively quick in recent decades. It is rightly a source of pride for many South Australians that the first step in this era began with reform here in this parliament.

On 27 August 1975, under the leadership of Premier Don Dunstan and then Attorney-General Peter Duncan, legislation was introduced, being the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment bill 1975. This landmark legislation finally abolished the offences of buggery, gross indecency and soliciting, and equalised the age of consent. It was a landmark reform, overdue and yet the first of its kind in the country. We ought not forget that the passage of this bill was not the start of the journey. This marked the culmination of many years of advocacy and campaigning by many people across this state, among them the Hon. Ian Hunter, in a former life when he wore a younger man's clothes.

It was also a reform spurred on by tragedy. On 10 May 1972, Dr George Duncan, a newly arrived law academic at the University of Adelaide, was brutally attacked and thrown into the River Torrens in a cruel act of targeted violence. He drowned, unable to swim; his life simply taken because he was gay. The suspected perpetrators were never held accountable. His death rightly sparked outrage in the South Australian community.

In July that year, it was a Liberal member in this place, the Hon. Murray Hill, who introduced the Criminal Law Consolidation (Homosexuality) Amendment Bill to decriminalise homosexuality. This bill would pass but with amendments that defeated its original intent. Homosexuality remained illegal in this state, with the bill ultimately only allowing for a defence in cases where the conduct had occurred in private between men over the age of 21.

It would be three years later that a bill to properly decriminalise male homosexuality finally passed in this parliament. Several things had changed in the intervening years. The reform, rather than being led by a private member, was now led by the Attorney-General, the Hon. Peter Duncan, with the support of the Premier, the Hon. Don Dunstan. The Legislative Council had been significantly reformed in the intervening time in 1973, ending provisions that restricted the voting franchise to landowners, and of course the activities of campaigners and activists had not faded or relented in the years following the death of Dr George Duncan nor during the time that had elapsed since the passage of the flawed bill in 1972.

This reform set off a chain of events across the country. The ACT followed suit in 1976, and every other state and territory would do the same, with Tasmania the last to do so only in relatively recent years, taking the important step in 1997.

Of course, this was not the end of South Australia's leadership in this area of law reform. To name just a few important reforms that have recently passed this parliament, in 2013 the then Weatherill government amended the Spent Convictions Act to enable pre-1975 convictions for homosexuality offences to be expunged. In 2016, following a report from the South Australian Law Reform Institute, Premier Weatherill's government passed a raft of new reforms. These included creating a relationships register, protections for gender-diverse people, removing discrimination in the Adoption Act and enabling equal access to altruistic surrogacy and assisted reproductive treatment.

Importantly, much reform in this area has in recent years attracted bipartisan support. I acknowledge members in this place, in particular the Hon. Michelle Lensink for her advocacy and leadership in this area, along with many other colleagues—the Hon. Tammy Franks, the Hon. Robert Simms, the Hon. Ian Hunter—and the advocacy and reform from people like the Hon. Susan Close in the other place, amongst others. In 2020, my predecessor as Attorney-General, the Hon. Vickie Chapman, passed legislation to abolish the so-called gay panic provocation defence. Of course, in 2017, people across the country expressed their support for marriage equality, with over 60 per cent of people voting yes in a postal survey.

I am proud that this government has also contributed to our state's legacy in law reform in this area, with the parliament passing the Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill just last year. That ban affirms what so many in our community have always known: you are not broken, you do not need fixing. You deserve respect, safety, support and love without condition or exception. This is a record of achievement all South Australians should be proud of. Ours is a state where you can live your life and achieve your full potential, no matter who you are or who you love.

But we know that work in this area is not done. Many LGBTIQA+ South Australians still face discrimination, violence, mental health struggles and social exclusion. Younger people in particular continue to be over-represented in suicide and mental health statistics, and too many members of our LGBTIQA+ plus community face discrimination in their everyday lives. There is more work to be done, but there is also much to celebrate.

To all of those who have marched, organised and spoken out when it was dangerous to do so, we owe you our deepest gratitude. Your courage has brought us where we are. To those still fighting today for inclusion, safety and visibility, we stand with you. As we mark this 50th anniversary, let it not be a quiet commemoration but a renewed commitment to justice, equality and a South Australia where no-one has to hide who they are. I commend the motion to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. R.A. Simms.

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