The Rudd government has rejected a proposal from the Australia 2020 Summit to offer same-sex civil unions, stating that state based relationship registers would be “the most appropriate way” to legally recognise same-sex couples.

Despite civil unions being quite different from traditional notions of marriage, the Government said that their “policy on marriage reflects the widely held view in the community that marriage is between a man and a woman” and that while “couples who have a mutual commitment to a shared life, but who are not married” shouldn’t be discriminated against, “the most appropriate way to achieve [relationship recognition] is by the development of nationally consistent, state-based” relationship registers.

According to Australian Marriage Equality, civil unions are currently offered in the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Victoria. There is no civil union scheme in New South Wales, however, the City of Sydney provides a relationship register available to all residents of the state.

The response also pointed out that “as part of the Government’s same-sex law reforms, registered relationships will also be recognised in many Commonwealth laws to provide a more consistent approach to the recognition of relationships.”