Calls for more Australian States to Quash Gay Sex Convictions
Tuesday 14 January 2014 @ 8.47 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research
Activists in Tasmania and NSW have called on their state governments to quash the criminal convictions of people convicted of having adult gay sex before it was decriminalised. The Victorian state government has recently announced that it will be the first state to do so.
The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group has also called for a full parliamentary apology.
Tasmania's anti-gay laws lasted longer than in other Australian states and prescribed the most severe punishment in the western world - a maximum of 21 years in gaol.
Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich plans to examine the Victorian legislation and then introduce similar legislation in NSW.
Greenwich also said he would like to see Australia play a leading role in advocating for decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide, and has written to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to urge her to ask Papua New Guinea to decriminalize gay sex when she visits there.
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