During Question time on Wednesday 17 November 2021, I asked the Attorney-General whether she would deliver on her commitment to introduce reforms to the Births, Deaths & Marriages Registry Act to better recognise trans and gender diverse Queenslanders.
You can read the full question and her answer below, or in the official Queensland Parliament Record of Proceedings (Hansard).
Mr BERKMAN: My question is to the Attorney-General. This week is Trans Awareness Week. It is also the second last sitting week of 2021 and the Attorney-General has previously committed to introduce reforms this year that better recognise gender diverse people in our registry laws. When will the government introduce legislation to meet that commitment?
Ms FENTIMAN: I thank the member for Maiwar for the question. As the member is well aware, I have corresponded with the member on many occasions. We do have reforms to births, deaths and marriages, building on the reforms of the former attorney-general to modernise our laws and make sure people’s lived identity in Queensland match their legal identity. I am very firmly on the record as saying we believe that that is very important. As the member also knows because I have written to tell him, I have hosted the first round table with stakeholders to get their initial feedback. Again, these laws are complex. We are looking at modernisations that have happened in every other jurisdiction. I do want to listen directly to the LGBTIQ+ stakeholders and make sure that we are listening to people with lived experience. It is really important that we hear directly from them. The round table was held in October to obtain their feedback. As I have said to the group and publicly, we hope to have changes to these laws introduced into the parliament next year. They will be introduced as soon as possible, but we do want to make sure we are consulting widely. Once implemented, we will see improvements in the delivery of important frontline services that Births, Deaths and Marriages deliver to Queenslanders. This is about marriage certificates, death certificates, changing a person’s name. It is absolutely important that we make sure that our laws reflect the community. I am very proud of the work we are doing in this space. I am really proud that stakeholders
are working with us to get this right. Those laws will be introduced next year.