From: J A Langley Date: 20 May 94 18:09:46 AEST The following article is reproduced without permission from "The Age", Melbourne, Victoria, Friday May 20th, 1994. FEDERAL BID TO OVERRULE TASMANIA'S GAY-SEX BAN By Andrew Darby, Hobart. The Federal Government yesterday launched a move to override the Tasmanian laws criminalising homosexual sex after talks with the State Goverment failed to achieve any breakthrough. The Attorney-General, Mr Lavarch, said he would reccomend to Federal Cabinet that it act to ensure the human rights of Tasmanians were consistent with those enjoyed by other Australians. "It's not appropriate for police to be looking into people's bedrooms and see what sex they are having," Mr Lavarch said at a press conference. "In my view such laws are bad in principle." The Tasmanian Premier, Mr Groom, said that if necessary the state would take its defence of the laws to the High Court. However Mr Lavarch said he had received legal advice on the issue and was confident the Commonwealth could withstand a challenge. "I believe the Commonwealth does have both the responsibility and constitutional power if it chooses to act in this matter, and I wouldn't propose a course of action to Cabinet which I wasn't confident would withstand a legal challenge." Gay activists, who initiated the Federal Government action by successfully taking a case of discrimination to the UN Human Rights Committee, said they hoped to see law reform by the end of the year. "Our understanding is that any Cabinet submission (Mr Lavarch) took would succeed," said Mr Rodney Croome, spokesman for the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group. Mr Croome, who also met Mr Lavarch, said legislation was likely to be framed in order to remove the laws generally in Australia, even though they were only in place in Tasmania, to ensure the state could not claim it was being discriminated against. Mr Lavarch declined to detail the cabinet submission but indicated it would address the Tasmanian issue alone, rather than also take on issues such as the age of consent for gay sex in Western Australia. "We have a few options, but what we are looking at is a solution to ensure Tasmanians do enjoy the same rights as other Australians, rather than buying into other arguments." Tasmania is the only state to still outlaw homosexual sex. Asked whether he was reluctant to interfere in state criminal law, Mr Lavarch said it was his "complete desire" to get State Government support for a change and he had proposed alternatives such as amending the laws to protect privacy for consensual sexual acts, or a strongly worded, educative preamble to the repeal law. Mr Groom told Mr Lavarch the law had an "educative value" as it stood, and the state would not allow any interference from outside. "If necessary the matter would be resolved in the Hight Court," he told reporters. "If the crunch should come we will argue the case." -- Jane Anna Langley janie@natasha.apana.org.au