Tasmania 's Relationships Act provided for registration and recognition of a type of registered partnership in two distinct categories: Significant Relationships and Caring Relationships. The same Act also amended 73 pieces of legislation to provide registered partners with nearly all of the rights offered to married couples within the state. Furthermore, since July , these relationships are recognised at federal level, providing couples with almost all of the federal rights and benefits of marriage.
The legislation came into effect on 1 January In September , the Parliament of Tasmania approved legislation to recognize same-sex unions performed outside Tasmania as significant relationships. Both same-sex and opposite-sex couples can register a Significant Relationship if both are unrelated, unmarried adults living in Tasmania.
Likewise, two adults residing in Tasmania, related or not, can register a Caring Relationship if one provides the other with domestic support and personal care.
The parties cannot be married to each other, cannot be in an existing significant or caring relationship, and neither can be receiving payment for the care of the other either from employment or government departments.
Both types of relationships provide some rights in the following areas: [ 5 ]. Tasmanian law allows same-sex couples to adopt. The Adoption Act states that "an order for the adoption of a child may be made in favour of two persons who, for a period of not less than 3 years before the date on which the order is made, have been married to each other or have been the parties to a significant relationship which is the subject of a deed of relationship registered under Part 2 of the Relationships Act Under section 10C of the Status of Children Act , same-sex partners of women who give birth to children conceived through sperm donation , IVF or other artificial reproductive technology are presumed to be the child's other parent or co-mother in the same way as male partners of heterosexual women.
