Tasmania has become the first Australian state or territory to offer financial compensation to victims of historic anti-LGBTQ+ laws, marking a powerful moment of justice and recognition for those targeted by discriminatory laws that remained in place until the late 20th century.
On Wednesday, Tasmania’s Legislative Council unanimously passed legislation to introduce a redress scheme for individuals convicted under outdated laws criminalising homosexuality and cross-dressing. The state’s House of Assembly had already approved the bill in September.
Same-sex relationships between men were criminal offences in Tasmania until 1997 — the last jurisdiction in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality. Until 2001, it was also the only state to criminalise cross-dressing.
Between the 1940s and 1980s, it’s estimated that around 100 men were convicted under laws describing consensual sexual activity as “unnatural sexual intercourse” or “gross indecency”. Many of those affected were outed against their will, faced imprisonment, and lost jobs, family, and their health, with some taking their own lives.
A milestone in justice
Under the new redress scheme:
- $15,000 will be paid to those charged,
- $45,000 for those convicted,
- $75,000 for those sentenced to prison or psychiatric care.
Payments will be automatic upon successful application to expunge a historical criminal record.
Human rights expert Professor Paula Gerber, who helped shape the legislation, said:
“The compensation scheme will never take away the dehumanising discrimination and deep harm they experienced, but it goes some way to righting the wrongs and acknowledging the state’s regret.”
She added:
“Just 28 years ago, men could be imprisoned in Tasmania for up to 21 years for consensual same-sex conduct. Tasmania has gone from being the last state to decriminalise homosexuality to being the first to offer compensation.”
A state transformed
LGBTQ+ advocates say the law reflects how much Tasmania has changed.
Equality Tasmania’s Rodney Croome, whose activism helped decriminalise homosexuality in the 1990s, called the redress a landmark step:
“Victims of our former laws faced forced outing, public humiliation, exclusion, imprisonment, cruel psychiatric ‘treatment’, or exile.
Financial redress is evidence of how profoundly Tasmania has changed for the better in the last quarter century — and shows we are not going back.”
Croome and his former partner Nick Toonen were instrumental in the 1994 UN Human Rights Commission decision that declared Tasmania’s laws a violation of international human rights. That decision helped bring about the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act and the eventual High Court ruling in Croome v Tasmania, which forced the state to repeal the laws.
A model for the nation
Advocates are now calling on other states and territories to follow Tasmania’s lead — and to expand redress schemes to include other discriminatory policies, such as the discharge of military personnel for their sexuality or gender identity.
“This is not just a new law, but a new type of law,” said Croome.
“There is no other LGBTIQA redress law in Australia.”
“Our leaders have the opportunity to rectify Australia’s shameful history,” added Gerber. “A renewed commitment to justice will ensure a brighter future of acceptance and inclusion.”
