*Age Of Consent & Legal Sexual Activity for the State of
29th
May 2009
Email to Premier Anna Bligh, Attorney-General Cameron Dick,
my local MP Neil Roberts and to the Courier Mail.
I
point out that I have discovered that, since
at least 2008, Queensland Labor’s official Policy Platform has included written
support for equal age of consent reform: Section 7.9 of
the Justice and Governance Chapter has been: "7.9
Labor will ensure uniformity of age among laws relating to the age of consent
for lawful sexual activity;". Also on 18th
October 2008
I ask “Since
it is clearly Queensland Labor's own written official Policy to act on equal
age of consent reform, when will the Queensland Government bring this
state into line with the rest of Australia in allowing equal protection
and support of ALL youth by amending the Criminal Code to define a truly
equal age of consent?”
No response was received.
----- Original Message -----
From: John Frame
To: Attorney General ; Premier Anna Bligh ; Nudgee Electorate Office
Cc: cmletters@qnp.newsltd.com.au
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 3:14 PM
Subject: Qld Labor
official Policy Platform is for Equal Age of Consent reform - why no action?
To: Attorney-General Cameron Dick, Premier Anna Bligh
and Neil Roberts MP (my local MP)
C.c. the Courier Mail
Re: Qld
Labor's official Policy Platform is for equal age of consent reform, why has
there been no action or even a commitment to action on this reform?
Dear Premier, Attorney-General and Mr Roberts,
You will each be well aware that since early 2000,
nine full years now, I have been coordinating community support for bringing
For the last few years the only responses I have
received from you have repeated that you have "no plans for reform",
and you have refused to offer any reasoning for that stance. You have also
refused to be interviewed on the matter and refused to meet with any
representative group. You have also refused to follow the clear July 2005
written advice from Qld Anti-Discrimination
Commissioner Susan Booth in which she called for urgent reform action.
It has recently come to my attention that since
at least 2008 in Qld Labor's Policy Platform, Section
7.9 of the Justice and Governance Chapter has been: "7.9
Labor will ensure uniformity of age among laws relating to the age of consent
for lawful sexual activity;"
I note also that on 18th October 2008 Qld Labor's Kingston Regional Conference passed a
resolution calling for the Government to act on that Policy - and the online
record shows that a response is still outstanding:
Age
of Consent for Lawful Sexual Activity |
18 Oct 2008, Sent to relevant State Minister, Awaiting response
|
|
Justice
and Governance – pg 82 (Anti-Discrimination Legislation), Section 7.9 |
With all due respect I ask, since it is clearly
Queensland Labor's own written official Policy to act on equal age of consent
reform, when will the Queensland Government bring this state into line
with the rest of Australia in allowing equal protection and support of ALL
youth by amending the Criminal Code to define a truly equal age of
consent?
The last attempt that Queensland Labor made to fix
this law was in their 1995 Revised Criminal Code, which set a truly
equal age of consent at 16. It is truly tragic that the Code was repealed
in 1996 by the Borbidge Nationals
led Coalition - who then reinstated and regressively revamped the 1899 Code.
After 14 years it's time Labor made one more determined effort to fix this
law - especially when you consider that a truly equal age of
consent is what was one of eight majority recommendations in the all-party
Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee's October 1990 Report on Reforms
In Laws Relating to Homosexuality which were specifically supported by the
Committee's Chairman Peter Beattie.
I welcome your response and urgently request your
action.
All my information, resource data and correspondence
since 2000 is stored via:
http://www.queerradio.org/AgeOfConsent.htm
Yours sincerely,
John Frame
jvframe@ozemail.com.au
http://www.queerradio.org/JohnFrame.html
Ph: 07 3350 1562 / mobile: 0409 501 561
Post:
----"There is no substitute for equality"----