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Same-sex sexual activity legal? Always legal for women; legal since 1983 for men
Equal age of consent since 2003 Gender identity/expression Change of sex requires divorce if married and sexual reassignment surgery Discrimination protections Yes (both federal and territory law) Recognition of
relationships Unregistered de facto unions recognised by territory law since 2003 (no civil union or relationship register) Restrictions: Same-sex marriage prohibited under federal law since 2004; see History of same-sex marriage in Australia Adoption No (the only ban within Australia - under review) | ||
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Australia's Northern Territory lack certain rights available to other residents. Homosexual activity has been legal since 1983 with an equal age of consent since 2003. Same-sex couples are recognised as de facto relationships. There is no civil union or domestic partnership registration scheme available, with marriage restricted to heterosexual couples by federal law. LGBT people are protected from discrimination by both Territory and Commonwealth law. As of December 2016, the Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction within Australia to ban same-sex couples from adopting children.
Contents
Laws regarding homosexuality
The Northern Territory became self-governing in 1978 and the unicameral territory Parliament, headed by the conservative Country Liberal Party Government, passed and the territory Criminal Code Act in October 1983. This code legalised some homosexual sex acts between consenting adult males in private, though imposed a consent age of 18 for such acts, as opposed to an age of 16 for heterosexual sex acts. The code furthermore banned homosexual anal sex and similar acts which were done "in public", defined as occurring within the presence of only one or more observer. Age of consent equalisation laws were achieved via the Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003, which went into effect in March 2004.
Historical convictions expungement proposal
As of February 2017, the Northern Territory is one of only two Australian jurisdictions (the other being Western Australia) not to provide for a scheme allowing people who have previously been convicted of consensual homosexual sex acts the right to apply to have their conviction squashed or expunged. Following a story on the subject appearing on Triple J's popular youth radio program Hack, a spokesperson for the Northern Territory Labor government stated it was seeking advice on the topic and that "every Territorian has a right to dignity and respect."
Recognition of same-sex relationships
The Northern Territory is one of two jurisdictions in Australia not to offer relationship registries or official domestic partnership schemes to same-sex couples, the other being Western Australia. Cohabiting same-sex couples can be recognised as living in a de facto relationship, which cannot be registered but can be recognised by a court declaration for certain purposes.
De facto recognition was made possible following the Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003 amending the territory's De Facto Relationships Act to define de facto relationships as "2 persons...not married but have a marriage-like relationship". This definition for the first time in the Territory resulted in LGBT people having a mechanism in the territory courts to resolve property disputes with their ex-partners. Prior to this reform, the non-financial contributions of a same-sex partner to a relationship could not be recognised in the same way as marriage or heterosexual de facto relationships. This could lead in some cases to a non-working partner not being able to obtain an appropriate property settlement. Such reforms have since made it possible for same-sex couples in the NT to have most of the entitlements as married partners. It also provides for de facto partners to make certain legal agreements relating to financial matters between the partners and ex-partners.
In 2009 the then-Attorney General Delia Lawrie referred the matter of relationship registers to the Northern Territory Law Reform Committee, who declined to make a recommendation on the form that relationship recognition should take.
Adoption and parenting rights
The Northern Territory's Adoption of Children Act specifically mentions that territory courts "shall only make an order for the adoption of a child in favour of a couple where the man and woman are married to each other and have been so married for not less than 2 years", resulting in same-sex couples not having legal rights to apply to adopt. Only in "exceptional circumstances" does territory law permit single LGBT or non-LGBT people to adopt. An informal review of the territory's adoption laws was believed to have been undertaken by then Minister for Children and Families John Elferink in November 2015, though no legislative reforms were made prior to the 2016 general election. Following that election the Territory's first gay indigenous MP Chansey Paech called for the Northern Territory to legalise same-sex adoption, indicating that some Cabinet ministers had already indicated their support to him.
Since February 2017, most Australian jurisdictions legally allows same-sex couples to adopt children - except for the Northern Territory.
Northern Territory law makes no mention of commercial or altruistic surrogacy arrangements, making both practices technically legal in the state, however no clinics provide surrogacy services due to the lack of regulation. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments like sperm donation are small in comparison to other states and territories, though it is believed lesbian couples in the Northern Territory have been accepted by clinics for ART treatments. Female de facto partners of pregnant women are treated under territory law as legal parents of any children born as a result of that birth.
Discrimination protections
The Law Reform (Gender, Sexuality and De Facto Relationships) Act 2003 helped remove legislative discrimination against same sex couples in all areas of territory law – except adoption. The Act removed distinctions based on a person's gender, sexuality or de facto relationship in approximately 50 Acts and Regulations.
The Anti-Discrimination Act 1996 protects territory residents from discrimination on the grounds of sex and sexuality, amongst a host of other attributes, covering the areas of education; work; accommodation; goods and services; facilities; clubs; insurance and superannuation. Transgender residents are not mentioned in the Act. Such individuals are entitled however to access sex reassignment surgery and subsequently have their name and birth certificate amended accordingly.
Federal law also protects LGBT and Intersex people in the Northern Territory in the form of the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Act 2013.