Victoria’s Upper House, the Legislative Council, last night voted 29-10 in favour of the Relationships Bill 2007, which will allow same-sex and de facto couples to formally register their relationships.

The Bill has already passed through the Legislative Assembly last month, where Labor and Greens members voted overwhelmingly to support it.

Amendments to the Bill will be discussed by committee today (Wednesday April 9), after which it will be sent to the Governor, who is expected to receive it no later than Thursday.

Human rights group Civil Union Action! (CUA) has welcomed the Legislative Council’s preliminary support for a Relationships Register, but urged members who support equality to approve amendments to the Bill put forward by the Greens.

“Civil Union Action supports the register, as it provides much needed legal security to couples – but there are serious issues which need to be fixed, for the sake of equality,” said CUA spokesperson John Kloprogge.

He nominated four key areas of concern, namely the option of official ceremonies, recognition of couples where one partner lives interstate, mutual recognition of corresponding schemes such as same-sex couples registered in Tasmania, and adoption.

While welcoming the Bill, the Victorian Greens say it does not go far enough, and so are seeking to amend the key areas identified by CUA.

“The law continues to discriminate against same-sex couples by offering them a lesser level of recognition than marriage,” said Greens MP Sue Pennicuik.

“While marriage is within Federal jurisdiction and so the bill cannot create a right to marry, we moved an amendment which would allow couples to hold a formal ceremony in conjunction with the relationship register registration if they want to.

“We also proposed an amendment providing that only one person in the relationship needs to reside in Victoria to be eligible for registration.

“In response to pressure from the Greens, the Victorian Government has promised to address the issue of mutual recognition of corresponding schemes in state such as Tasmania,” Pennicuik concluded.

Liberal Member for Southern Metropolitan Region Andrea Coote also voted in support of the Bill.

“In our community today I believe that people wanting to make a commitment to each other, should be able to do so, in fact should be encouraged to do so,” she said in a media statement.

Coote went on to say she felt relationships, regardless of the gender of the parties involved, should be recognised by the state.

“I believe this Bill will allow same sex couples security in life, peace of mind in the event of a partner’s death and fair treatment should their relationship break down,” she concluded.

Proposed amendments to the Relationships Bill 2007 will be debated in Committee stage today. Thereafter, it will be due for its Third Reading speech in the Upper House, and another vote will be taken.

Once approved and given Royal Assent by the Governor, the relationships register will come into operation by December 1, 2008.

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