Submission to the NT 2018 inquiry on birth registration

In November 2018, we made a brief submission to the Social Policy Scrutiny Committee, Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory regarding reform of birth registration. Our submission was made in line with the Darlington Statement 2017, a community consensus statement by intersex advocates and organisations in Australia and Aotearoa/NZ.

Morgan Carpenter was kindly called to speak before the Committee on 19 November.

Papers in relation to the inquiry can be found on the inquiry web page.

We are pleased that the Legislative Assembly modified the proposed legislation to take account of our submission, with the outcome that intersex people are not othered as a population in NT law. The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act was amended on 6 December 2018.

AIS Support Group Australia, Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, Organisation Intersex International Australia, Eve Black, Kylie Bond, Tony Briffa, Morgan Carpenter, et al. 2017. ‘Darlington Statement’. https://darlington.org.au/statement.

Intersex Human Rights Australia. 2018. ‘Submission by Intersex Human Rights Australia to the Social Policy Scrutiny Committee, Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory’, November 14. https://parliament.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/597555/Submission-2-Intersex-Human-Rights-Australia.pdf

Social Policy Scrutiny Committee. 2018. Public Hearing Transcript Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, 21 November 2018. Darwin, Northern Territory. https://parliament.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/600289/70-2018-Transcript-Public-Hearing-26-November-2018.pdf.

Northern Territory. 2018. Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act. https://legislation.nt.gov.au/en/Legislation/BIRTHS-DEATHS-AND-MARRIAGES-REGISTRATION-ACT.