今日吃瓜

A NEW聽bill allowing people to clear their name if they聽were聽convicted of consensual homosexual activities聽prior to its decriminalisation聽is on track to being聽passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly.

The Spent Convictions Bill is part of the ACT Government鈥檚 Spring Legislation program, aimed at supporting vulnerable communities in the territory.

[showads聽ad=MREC]ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the scheme would allow people to apply to have their convictions erased permanently from their criminal record.

鈥淭his will mean that a person鈥檚 employment, appointment, licencing or travel opportunities won鈥檛 be affected by having a sexual offence conviction on their record,鈥� he told the Star Observer.

鈥淭he person will be under no obligation to disclose their prior conviction.鈥�

The number of men with a criminal conviction for homosexual sex in the ACT is unknown, but it is estimated to be a small number. in 1973, although it was not ratified by the Prime Minister until 1976.

Attorney General Simon Corbell 聽that the ACT Government was planning to introduce a聽bill聽to clear historical gay sex convictions, and that it was to be developed with assistance from聽the territory’s聽LGBTIQ Advisory Council.

The聽majority of the ACT Legislative Assembly is already in favour of the bill, with all Labor MLAs along with the sole Greens MLA indicating support.

This development follows in the footsteps of聽 and , where schemes to expunge historical consensual gay sex convictions were聽legislated聽last year. South Australia introduced a spent conviction scheme in 2013, allowing consensual gay sex聽offences to no longer appear on records after a certain number of crime-free years 鈥斅燽ut聽.

Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation at the Human Rights Law Centre, Anna Brown, hoped the ACT emulated the schemes in NSW and Victoria.

鈥淚 am concerned that the description of the bill refers simply to spent convictions,鈥� she told the Star Observer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important for the ACT to 鈥榚xpunge鈥� or 鈥榚xtinguish鈥� them completely, so it will be as though the offence never took place, because these acts should never have been considered crimes.鈥�

Brown also recommended the ACT bill have聽“a clear repudiation and apology”.

鈥淭he ACT Government needs to formally acknowledge that these unjust, discriminatory laws were wrong and should never have been made,鈥� 蝉丑别听said.

Nonetheless, the聽Chief Minister believes the scheme is a reflection of today鈥檚 society.

“It will acknowledge what is generally accepted by the community; that consensual sex of a homosexual nature should not be treated as criminal regardless of when they occurred,” Barr said.

Brown agreed:聽鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic to see the ACT Government is set to deliver on its commitment to end the stigma, shame, and practical difficulties that discriminatory criminal laws have inflicted for decades.”

There have been talks of聽introducing a similar expungement scheme in , while anti-discrimination commissioner made an official聽recommendation in May that the state expunge historical gay sex convictions.