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Queensland act
Creates a legal category called a "civil partnership" that any two adults can enter into, regardless of sex (sec 4). Civil partnerships stay in force until ended by death, marriage or a registered termination (sec 4, sec 14, sec 19).
Provides two ways to form a partnership:
Sets eligibility requirements: each person must be unmarried and not already in a civil partnership, must not be in a prohibited family relationship (lineal ancestor/descendant, sibling, half-sibling) with the other person, and at least one person must live in Queensland (sec 5).
Requires paperwork and identity proof: applications and notices must be in approved forms and accompanied by statutory declarations and documents proving identity/age; the registrar can ask for additional information (secs 7, 10, 35). There is a cooling-off/notice period for applications and declarations during which an applicant may withdraw (secs 8, 10, 11, 17).
Registers and records: when registered, particulars are entered in the births/deaths/marriages register (sec 6, sec 9). The registrar decides whether to register or refuse, subject to the eligibility rules and withdrawal rights (sec 9, sec 12).
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Direct links to the current provisions in Civil Partnerships Act 2011.
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View on official registerSourced from Queensland Legislation (legislation.qld.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Termination: one or both partners may apply to the registrar to terminate the partnership; single-party terminations require personal service or registered post with specified evidentiary steps (secs 14–19, 16, 32).
Civil partnership notaries (people authorised to receive notices and witness declarations): a person may apply to the registrar to be registered as a civil partnership notary, subject to suitability checks including relevant criminal history; notaries pay application/annual fees and must provide annual returns (secs 20, 20A, 21). The registrar keeps and publishes a register of notaries (sec 21), but contact details publishable only with consent (sec 21(5)).
Oversight and enforcement: the registrar has discretion to request information, approve alternative service methods, register or refuse or cancel notaries, and to issue show-cause notices before cancelling a notary registration; decisions can be reviewed by QCAT as provided (secs 7(3), 20(5–6), 22–26, pt 4 (secs 27–29)). There are criminal offences for notaries or others who knowingly permit or simulate improper declarations (sec 34).
Fees and regulations: the Act delegates fee-setting and other detailed requirements to regulation (sec 36), including fees for applications, notary registration and annual returns (secs 15, 20, 20A).
Transitional and saving provisions: the Act contains multiple transitional provisions that convert earlier "registered relationships" and earlier notices/applications into the new civil partnership framework, and preserves unfinished review processes under prior law (pt 6 and pt 7, eg secs 38–46, 48–52).
The text establishes a statutory procedure for recognising and ending civil partnerships, and a regulatory framework for persons who act as notaries for declarations (secs 4, 6, 20). The Act’s stated legal effect is to register and record partnerships in the births/deaths/marriages register (secs 6, 9, 12). That is the Act’s operative purpose as expressed in the provisions.
Testing those purpose-claims against practical mechanics in the Act:
Costs and who pays: applicants and notaries face fees set by regulation (sec 15, sec 20, sec 20A, sec 36). Parties also bear time and documentary costs—statutory declarations, identity documents, waiting periods, and service costs when one partner applies to terminate (secs 7, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17, 32). The registrar may refund some fees for cancelled notary registrations (sec 26).
Incentives and behaviour: the Act creates two alternative formation pathways (direct application to the registrar or notice-and-declare via an authorised notary), allowing couples to choose the route that suits them (sec 6). It creates an incentive for independent celebrants/notaries to register and comply (fees, annual return, publication of register subject to consent) (secs 20, 20A, 21). It also creates an incentive for parties and notaries to follow notice timing rules and document requirements because refusal, voiding or criminal penalties are available where the statutory conditions are not met (secs 9, 30, 34).
Trade-offs and administrative discretion: the registrar has multiple discretionary powers (to require additional documents (sec 7(3)), to decide suitability for notaries having regard to criminal history (sec 20(5)–(6)), to approve alternative service methods (sec 32(4)–(6)) and to cancel notary registrations following a show-cause process (secs 22–26)). Those powers speed practical administration but concentrate decision-making in the registrar and make outcomes depend partly on administrative judgment.
Compliance burden and implementation risk: forming or ending a partnership requires adherence to procedural steps (forms, declarations, notices, timing, service rules). Failure to meet eligibility can render a partnership void (sec 30). Certain procedural errors do not invalidate a partnership if parties reasonably believed a person was a notary or if notice form requirements were not complied with (sec 31 and transitional equivalents), which reduces some implementation risk.
Effects on private enterprise and individual choice: the Act primarily regulates personal legal status, not commercial markets. Direct impacts on competition, prices, productivity, ownership or speech are not established in the text. The provisions that most affect independent service providers are the registration, fee and annual-return requirements for civil partnership notaries (secs 20, 20A, 21) and criminal liability for misconduct (sec 34). Those provisions impose a regulatory compliance cost on people who act as notaries and create a formal role that could substitute for existing celebrant or legal services.
Concentrated benefits and diffuse costs: benefits are concentrated to couples who obtain legal recognition and to registered notaries who can offer declaration services; costs are borne in many small ways (fees, time, documentary requirements) by applicants and by the registrar (administration), though fee-setting power is delegated to regulation (sec 36). The Act contains refund/waiver powers for fees (sec 36(2), sec 26).
Remedies and review: decisions by the registrar are notified and reviewable under the Act and by QCAT where specified (pt 4, secs 27–29, sec 26). That creates an administrative appeals pathway.
(References are to the sections of the Civil Partnerships Act 2011 cited above.)