Debate on an omnibus bill dealing with same-sex marriage and birth certificate registation has started after a motion from Windermere independent MLC Ivan Dean's to refer the bill to a committee for further consultation was voted down.
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Labor's four members and independent members Rob Valentine, Mike Gaffney, Kerry Finch and Ruth Forrest opposed the move.
The bill, which was primarily to deal with same-sex marriage, was heavily amended in the House of Assembly last year.
This included amendments to change the way gender was recorded on Tasmanian birth certificates and remove an obligation for a gender change to be affirmed after surgery.
Mr Dean argued that the bill was not legislatively sound and acknowledged Solicitor-General Michael O'Farrell's view that the bill would impact other state laws.
"It would be foolish and extreme to move forward with this bill in its current form," he said.
"In fact, it would be plain idiocy."
Labor's Sarah Lovell said the people mainly affected by the bill was not the broader community but transgender people and their families.
She said community members may be confused by the changes but that was due to misinformation propagated by groups and organisations against the reform.
Mr Valentine said more consultation on the bill would not change the ideological positions of those in favour or against the reform.
Mr Gaffney said even if passed, all laws could be challenged in the courts, as was the case when Parliament approved the state's anti-protest laws which were overturned by the High Court.
He said sending the bill to a committee would delay parliamentary process and it was the Legislative Council's role not just to review but be innovative.
"Why not be the group that forges into new ground?" he said.
Leader of Government Business in the Legislative Council, Leonie Hiscutt, said no Australian jurisdiction had removed gender markers from birth certificates.
"Like it or not, these issues are contentious," she said.
Members will continue to debate their own amendments, which extend across 48 pages, on April 2.
The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute has accepted a referral from the government to look at:
- the steps required to register a change of sex or intersex status on official documents;
- what categories of sex or gender should be displayed on a birth certificate and other documents;
- what, if any, reforms should be made to in relation to medical consent to alter a person's sex or gender;
- and what, if any, reforms should be made to in reference to the terms sex and gender in Tasmanian legislation.
The institute is expected to release a report in October.