The UN Human Rights Commission declared Australia's Federal Government in violation of equality and privacy rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights in September 2003 after denying a man a de facto spouse veteran's pension based on his 38-year same-sex relationship.
On 27 May 2004, approximately two months after Tony Blair's Labor Government in Britain proposed its Civil Partnership Act 2004, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock introduced the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill to prevent any possible court rulings allowing same-sex marriages or civil unions [REF].