Result
In response to the Tasmanian Parliament’s refusal to repeal the offending laws, the Federal government passed the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994 - Section 4, legalising sexual activity between consenting adults throughout Australia and prohibiting the making of laws that arbitrarily interfere with the sexual conduct of adults in private. In 1997 in the case of Croome v Tasmania, Croome applied to the High Court of Australia for a ruling as to whether the Tasmanian laws were inconsistent with the Federal Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act. The Tasmanian Government repealed the relevant Criminal Code provisions after failing in its attempts to have the matter struck out.
According to Nick Poynder in a public lecture presented at Monash University's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law in Melbourne on 28 April 2003, the Committee's views are "widely published and carry significant moral and persuasive authority":
There is no doubt . . . that the UNHRC's views in Toonen v Australia, that Tasmania's anti-homosexual laws were in breach of Article 17 of the ICCPR . . . led directly to the enactment by the Australian Parliament of legislation rendering those laws ineffective.
According to Justice Michael Kirby, in a speech given on the 2004 bicentenary of Tasmania, the changes in law resulted in Tasmania becoming "one of the most enlightened" Australian states:
"Early leadership was given by the Tasmania Police. It was followed by the Health Department, concerned to respond strongly to HIV/AIDS. An education reference group was established to turn around earlier policy and to combat homophobia in Tasmanian schools. Soon a programme was instituted to remove sexuality discrimination entirely from Tasmanian law and official practice. Tourism Tasmania even dedicated resources to promoting the State as a place friendly to gay visitors. For those who knew the whole history, this was truly a story of amazing Tasmania. Whereas in 1988, support for decriminalisation of homosexuality in this State had been 15% below the national average, by the time decriminalisation occurred in 1997, it was 15% above the average. Indeed, it was reportedly higher in Hobart than in Melbourne or Sydney".
This case law "Toonen v. Australia" is also referred to by the Declaration of Montreal. and a report of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on sexual orientation and gender identity
Read more about this topic: Toonen V. Australia
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