Question On Notice No. 1594 asked in the Legislative Council on 28 August 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Attorney General
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to Section
57 (2) of the Births, Deaths and Marriages
Registration Act 1998 that states, 'If, in the Registrar’s opinion, a word or expression appearing on
an entry in the Register is, or may be regarded as, offensive, the
Registrar may issue a certificate under subsection (1)(a) without
including the word or expression', and I ask:
(a) will the Minister please provide a list of all words and expressions deemed
offensive and redacted from certificates issued by the Registrar;
(b) if no to (a), why not;
(c) the term 'Aboriginal' has been removed from certificates issued by the
Registrar exercising this power, is the term Aboriginal offensive;
(d) if no to (c), why was the term 'Aboriginal' then removed;
(e) if yes to (c), why was this decision made, who made the decision and when;
(f) were any stakeholder groups consulted about whether the use of the
term 'Aboriginal' on certificates was offensive and whether they thought it
should be redacted;
(g) if no to (f), why not; and
(h) if yes to (f), please list who was consulted and when?
Answered on 10 October 2018
(a) Any information (such as a person’s race) that is not legally required on a certified copy of a Birth Certificate is redacted.
(b) The Registry keeps all original copies of birth, death and marriage certificates. These original documents form part of the written history of our State and cannot be edited in any way. Nothing is redacted from these original documents.
(c) No.
(d) In relation to a certified copy see answer (a). If a person wants an uncertified historical certificate for an ancestor, such as for family history purposes, they can ask for, and be given, a copy of the ancestor’s original certificate. This would include all of the historical information listed on the original form, including race if a comment had been made by the registrar at the time of registration, that is, as if it was originally entered by the registrar at that time. There is a reduced fee for accessing birth extracts for historical or family research.
(e) Not applicable
(f) No as there is no legal requirement to include that information
(g) Refer to answers (a) and (d) and this practice is maintained by all State and Territory Registries.
(h) Not applicable