The passage of the NSW Relationships Register Bill is "deeply troubling" and undermines marriage and discourages permanent commitment, said the director of the Sydney Archdiocese Life, Marriage and Family Centre."It also undermines marriage by implying that other kinds of relationships, such as de facto and homosexual relationships, are essentially equivalent to marriage and should be encouraged and promoted by the state," said the centre's director Chris Meney, according to The Catholic Weekly.
"In a free society people can elect to enter whatever relationships they so choose, but governments have an important obligation to support and encourage marriage.
"This is because marriage is unique and distinctly different from all other forms of relationships. Marriage is exclusive, for life, and oriented towards having children.
"Marriage is very protective of the best interests of children and essential for the good of our society."
Last week NSW Parliament passed the Relationships Register Bill, which aims (a) to provide for the legal recognition of relationships of couples, regardless of sex, by registration of the relationships, and (b) to recognise registered relationships, and interstate registered relationships, as de facto partnerships for the purposes of State legislation.
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