The 1946 Charter
The Restoration authorities prohibited persecution based on sexual orientation and recognised civil marriage irrespective of the partners’ sex. Protection continued through the 1949 settlement. The Charter applied to employment, public schools, public institutions, military service and lawful access to courts. No person was barred from a qualifying service pathway for being gay or lesbian.
Families and benefits
Married couples received equal family recognition under housing, inheritance and service-benefit rules. Free childhood services were universal. Adult entitlements depended on current or completed qualifying service, with protected family and caring pauses. Marriage equality did not remove the separate service qualification.
Immigration
Sexual-orientation persecution abroad helped motivate migration from approved source countries. Eligible applicants could not be excluded because of orientation. Initial European entry restrictions and later allied-Asian treaty pathways still applied; the national account does not describe those rules as universal open borders.
Indigenous and territorial rights
The national equal-rights framework applied to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Māori, Papuan and Pacific peoples, and Singapore’s established communities. Public-land custodianship and language support protected local institutions, while existing lawful private titles remained secure.
Continuing restrictions
The Commonwealth retained military guardianship, service-linked voting, nationality-based external immigration restrictions and coercive refusal and homelessness laws. The rights account includes those restrictions alongside protection of marriage, ancestry and public childhood services. Protection in one area did not mean the system lacked limits elsewhere.