Same Sex Marriage Survey Nov 2017
following the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 that was made to the Marriage Act 1961 (Australia) that clearly recognised only monogamous, heterosexual marriages.
Before 2004, there was no "definition" of marriage in the 1961 Act, and instead the common law definition used in the English case Hyde v Hyde (1866) was considered supreme "Marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life".
In 2004, an additional section was added:
Certain unions are not marriages
A union solemnised in a foreign country between:
(a) a man and another man; or
(b) a woman and another woman;
must not be recognised as a marriage in Australia.
The amendment was argued by Ruddock and Liberal MPs to be necessary to protect the institution of marriage, and ensure that the definition would be beyond legal challenge through the application of common law.
Interview in The Australian. 8 August 2017. John Howard: "What we didn’t want to happen in 2004 was for the courts to start adjudicating on the definition of marriage because that was a real threat (in 2004) because some people who had contracted same sex marriages in another country had the capacity to bring their issues before courts in Australia".
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