Civil Partnerships Become Registered Relationships
The Civil Partnerships Act 2012 was one of the last pieces of legislation passed by the previous session of Parliament, and it was very quickly amended by the Civil Partnerships and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2012, which was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the new session of Parliament. There are three particular changes introduced by the later Act. First of all the phrase, Civil Partnership has been replaced by the phrase Registered Relationship. So Queensland no longer has Civil Partnerships, it has Registered Relationships. Any couples who entered into Civil Partnerships before the legislation was amended have automatically been converted to Registered Relationships. Secondly, the possibility of an official ceremony to celebrate a Registered Relationship has been removed by the amendments. This does not of course prevent informal celebrations, but an official ceremony is no longer a possibility. The third change is a logical consequence of the second...