AUSTRALIA: Australia's conservative government will overrule same-sex marriage laws in the nation's capital, prime minister John Howard vowed yesterday, saying marriage should only be between men and women.
Mr Howard's move, echoing US president George W Bush's backing for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, follows new laws by the self-governing Australian Capital Territory that are intended to allow same-sex unions.
National laws in Australia say a marriage must be between a man and woman at the exclusion of all others, but the Australian Capital Territory laws would have given gay couples the same legal rights as married couples by describing the marriages as "civil unions".
"Our view is very simple. We are not prepared to accept something which is a plain attempt to equate civil unions with marriage," Mr Howard said.
Meanwhile, Canada, the fourth country to legalise same-sex marriage, in mid-2005, will allow a free vote in parliament to decide whether the laws should be overturned.
Australia's Labour opposition said Mr Howard was wrong to intervene over laws passed by the democratically elected Australian Capital Territory government, which administers the nation's capital, Canberra.
"The law should recognise caring and loving relationships," Labour spokeswoman Nicola Roxon said, adding that gay couples continued to be discriminated against in areas such as pensions, tax and health and welfare benefits.