Bills currently before the Senate could see de facto couples given the same rights as married couples in areas including protection from being forced to give evidence against a spouse in criminal court proceedings, claims on financial and other assets, and spouse benefits from Commonwealth superannuation and pension schemes.

Giving heterosexual and same-sex de facto relationships these rights will undermine marriage, says Dr David Phillips, national president of Festival of Light, renamed FamilyVoice Australia.

“Marriage is unlike any other legal or social relationship in… being… the ‘union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life’,” he says.

“By contrast, de facto relationships are entered into not by any formal or decisive act… It would be very odd then for the law to treat these relationships as if they were the same as marriage.”

The ‘vague’ definition of ‘de facto’ could “give legal recognition and privileges to people who engage in adultery” and recognise polygamous arrangements, Dr Phillips says. 

In three Senate submissions, FVA said the ‘seriously flawed’ definition of ‘de facto partner’ in these amendment bills should be rejected and that two of the bills should not be supported.

Meanwhile, Dr Phillips hopes the new name of his organisation “gives people an idea of our ministry, without false connotations of Hindu gods, political parties, arts festivals, lighting displays, fireworks or New Age beliefs”.