It’s frustrating for partners in Tasmanian Deeds of Relationship like myself to again see references to the Tasmanian relationship registry as “simply registering de facto relationships”, or “watered-down”, or not “legally binding”, or “bland”.

Our registry is a fully-fledged civil union scheme that is open to all personal relationships, not just de facto couples.

It creates new legal relationships with full marital rights, in a way which is as “legally binding” as marriage.

It does not have a compulsory legislated ceremony like the former ACT Civil Partnership Bill, because it is designed to allow partners to enter their new formalised relationship in the manner of their choosing.

Some partners choose to have a ceremony to mark the signing and official witnessing of their Deeds of Relationship. These ceremonies are as solemn and important as traditional weddings.

The Federal Government is keen to portray the Tasmanian registry as something less than it is so that it has a straw man in the same-sex marriage debate that is acceptable to religious groups.

But the fact is that in Tassie we are creating a new, vibrant and contemporary alternative to marriage that is helping to equalise the legal and social status of same-sex and other significant relationships.

On paper the Tasmanian registry may look “bland”, but on paper so does marriage. The lived reality of both institutions is much richer.

Peter Power Convenor, InDeed (Tasmania’s Association of Recognised Partners)

The town planning report for Oxford Street by urban consultants Map Info Dimasi is even more important than we first thought (‘Locals key to strip’s revival’, May 8).

Its central tenet is that a good ‘urban village’ is one that creates a symbiosis with its locale: businesses and locals creating a nexus that is both self-serving and self-satisfying.

This model is not novel. It is, in fact, mediaeval.

This is not criticism: the original ‘village’ included the butcher, baker and candlestick-maker around the town square, which also served as a once-a-week market. This model still exists in places like Prague, Provence and Paris.

This is the key to a good village and is a lesson that is transferable to other areas including Kings Cross, the biggest basket-case town planning disaster in Australia, providing more urban design mayhem than three Cahill Expressways.

Sydney Council should now implement the same plan for Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross, which is no more than an outdoor pathology clinic and the toilet bowl of Sydney.

After all, residents have right to live in their chosen, heritage-listed environment.

Andrew Woodhouse
Potts Point & Kings Cross Heritage Society

Circumcision and/or a vaccine that slows the rate of HIV infection by 40-70% is only ethical at the population level but not at the personal level (‘The search continues’, May 8).

It just takes longer for one to get infected on average. Ethics must always be about giving priority to the most effective strategy and so in the presence of a highly successful history of education plus condoms (they are one package not two), circumcision or a weak vaccine must only be used as an addendum.

Circumcision must not be used as a cover for developed countries’ failures in making the education-condoms message culturally relevant to Africa and Asia.

Eric Glare via eevolution.com.au