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Commonwealth act
This Act removes discrimination against same-sex couples in Commonwealth superannuation (retirement savings) and pension laws. Before this law, only opposite-sex couples — whether married or de facto (living together without being married) — could receive superannuation death benefits and survivor pensions when their partner died. Same-sex couples were locked out entirely.
This law directly affects:
1. Key definitions expanded: Throughout multiple Acts, the old term "marital relationship" (which only covered married or opposite-sex de facto couples) was replaced with "marital or couple relationship" — which now includes same-sex couples, whether their relationship is formally registered under State/Territory law or an informal de facto relationship.
2. "Spouse" now includes same-sex partners: Across superannuation laws, "spouse" now includes a person of the same sex who lives with someone on a genuine domestic basis as a couple.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws—Superannuation) Act 2008.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
3. "Child" definitions broadened: Children recognised under the Family Law Act 1975 (which already covered children of same-sex families) are now recognised across these superannuation laws too.
4. Acts Interpretation Act updated: A new general definition of "de facto partner" was added to the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 — Australia's foundational rules for reading laws — so that future laws using the term automatically include same-sex couples without needing to spell it out each time.
5. Backdated to 1 July 2008: If you missed out on payments between 1 July 2008 and when this law actually started, you can apply to the Finance Minister for compensation to make up the difference. The government will pay you back.
The Act amended over a dozen Commonwealth laws, including:
Before this law, if your same-sex partner died and they had a Commonwealth superannuation account or pension, you got nothing — even if you'd lived together for decades. This law fixed that, giving same-sex partners the same financial protections as opposite-sex couples when a partner dies.