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TEACHERS will for the first time be allowed to
have legal homosexual sex with students
aged just 17 under a little-known section of the gay sex
reform Bill passed by State
Parliament's lower house last night.
The Carr Government's social revolution began to unravel yesterday, as it came under strong attack for its controversial underage sex Bill and proposed pain-relieving cannabis trial. Premier Bob Carr appeared undecided as to how cannabis will be administered to sick people and refused to rule out government-sanctioned pot plantations. Meanwhile, it's been revealed that the legal age of homosexual sex between teachers and male students will be lowered from 18 to 17 under the gay sex Bill. As well, Attorney-General Bob Debus last night was forced to make embarrassing last-minute amendments to his Bill. Amid a day of furious debate in State Parliament, 'National Party State MP for Orange Russell Turner said he would support the Bill after revealing that his son, Scott, was gay. The Daily Telegraph has discovered Mr Debus' "age of consent" Bill lowers the age at which male teachers can have sex wjth their students, and not face criminal prosecution. At present, a teacher can have sex with a female student aged 17 and male student aged 18 and not face criminal prosecution. However, the Bill reduces the age for male students to 17, to bring this law into line with the current rule for female students. Mr Debus last night said he would remove another contentious section of the Bill, which retrospectively makes many people who had committed illegal gay sex acts in the past immune from prosecution. This retrospective clause meant that any person who was facing an allegation or was under suspicion of illegal under-age sex in the past, where the partner was aged 16-18 and the act was consensual, could not have been prosecuted. ALP State KP Paul Gibson earlier said this clause was a disgrace. "This Bill is for the protection of paedophiles out there now," he said. "This Bill is saying if you're a paedophile you've won the lottery. "I've seen a lot of legislation in the 16 years I've been here, but I haven't seen more vile legislation than the retrospective part of this Bill - I'm sure it's a total sham." Another section of the Bill will also be scrapped, which would have unintentionally allowed men to legally have sex with child male prostitutes aged 14-18, as long as they looked over 18. At 7.30pm, State Parliament's Legislative Assembly approved the Bill 54-32, with it to go before the Legislative Council in coming days. Government MPs to vote against the Bill included Joe Tripodi, Richard Amery, Tony Stewart and Kevin Greene, while Opposition Leader John Brogden and Coalition MPs Judy-Hopwood, Jillian Skinner, Brad Hazzard and Andrew Humpherson voted in favour. Mr Turner spoke in favour of the Bill. "I have spoken to my son on many occasions and the National Party understands my situation where my son is a homosexual. "I would hope in supporting this bill, and I will be voting for this bill, that slowly some of the ignorance and some of the fear that we have in our community will dissipate." Scott Turner is aged 39 but realised in his early 20s he was gay. Mr Turner said the proposed law would have been unlikely to have affected his son, who was probably "still trying to determine his identity" between the ages of 16-18. He said his experience as a parent of a gay man allowed him to have a "better understanding" on the bill. A MESS OF HIS OWN MAKING Comment by David Penberthy HAVING been less than candid with voters about two contentious social policies, Bob Carr yesterday seemed less than prepared. On the age of consent and the cannabis reforms, the Premier has become tangled in the details of both proposals. The implications of the retrospectivity clause in the consent Bill, and the confusion over the home cultivation of marijuana, are important questions hanging over these reforms. They are likely to be the subject of flip-flopping by Mr Carr. His former minister, Richard Amery, said in opposing the consent Bill yesterday that neither party had mentioned the proposal during the election campaign. A fair point. With an open debate ahead of the election, Mr Carr could have not only kept the voters in the picture, but sorted out the details of these proposals. HOW YOUR LOCAL MP VOTED LAST NIGHT THIS is how NSW Legislative Assembly MPs voted last night on the Bill to lower the age of consent for homosexual males to 16 years of age: IN FAVOUR Pam Allan, Alan Ashton, Diane Beamer, Matthew Brown, Linda Bumey, Cherie Burton, David Campbell, Bob Carr, Barry Collier, Geoff Corrigan, Paul Crittenden, Angela D'Amore, Bob Debus, Tanya Gadiel, Bryce Gaudry, Kerry Hickey, Jeff Hunter, Morris lemma, Virginia Judge, Kristina Keneally, Craig Knowles, Paul Lynch, Gerard Martin, Paul McLeay, Reba Meagher, Alison Megarrity, John Mills, Matthew Moms, Neville Newell, Sandra Nori, Milton Orkopoulos, Karyn Paluzzano, Paul Pearce, Barbara Perry, John Price, Andrew Refshauge, Frank Sartor, Carl Scully, John Watkins, Graham West, Steve Whan, Kirn Yeadon, Gladys Berejiklian, John Brogden, Shelley Hancock, Brad Hazzard, Judy Hopwood, Andrew Humpherson, Peta Seaton, Jillian Skinner, Russell Turner, David Ban", Clover Moore, Rob Oakeshott. AGAINST Richard Amery, Marie Andrews, Paul Gibson, Kevin Greene, Noreen Hay, Grant McBride, Marianne Saliba, Tony Stewart, Joe Tripodi, Greg Aplin, Andrew Constance, Peter Debnam, Chris Hartcher, Malcolm Kerr, Daryl Maguire, Wayne Merton, Barry O'Farrell, Steven Pringle, Michael Richardson, Anthony Roberts, Andrew Tink, Stephen Cansdell, Andrew Fraser, Thomas George, Donald Page, Adrian Piccoli, lan Slack-Smith, George Souris, Andrew Stoner, Peter Draper, Tony McGrane, Richard Torbay. ABSENT lan Armstrong, Peter Black, Katrina Hodgkinson, John Turner. ABSTAIN John Bartlett Mirror Australian Telegraph Publications Mark Skelsey-(22-5-2003) |
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