Straight Australia policy

The Australian reports today that civil union legislation passed recently in the ACT will be overturned by the federal government. The newspaper reports: "John Howard confirmed that federal cabinet had agreed to scuttle the ACT legislation, saying it was an attack on the institution of marriage." It also reports ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell's response: "This is not about the institution of marriage, this is about the raw politics of John Howard and Phillip Ruddock's conservative social agenda."

Apparently gay and lesbian activists are now saying that Australia has an unwritten "straight Australia policy". For those of you who are overseas readers, this statement refers to a particularly mean-spirited part of Australia's past. The "white Australia policy", although never an official policy as such, referred to the range of practices by which immigration officials attempted to keep non-whites out of Australia in the early 1900s. For example, applicants' language skills would be tested--but not necessarily their English skills alone. If applicants passed the English test, they would then be tested in another language, and another, until they failed, and were refused permission to immigrate.

Archival information from the ABC website: "A German subject was released last week from Maitland prison and by commonwealth authorities in Newcastle submitted to a test in the Greek language although he speaks German, English and French. As he could not pass the test, he was sentenced in Newcastle to six months imprisonment for being a prohibited immigrant…"
--Telegram from Paul Von Bari (German Consul General) to Governor- General (Hopetoun), December 8, 1903, Australian Archives A6662/1 200

So, a "straight Australia policy" now. No matter what tests we pass, our government will keep changing the rules.