Australia is joining the global trend toward recognizing same-sex marriages. Outgoing South Australian Premier Mike Rann is the latest senior public official to back the proposal to legalise gay and lesbian unions.

"It is, quite simply, unfair to prevent same-sex couples from having their relationship - a union that is viewed as equal in every other aspect of the law - being recognised as a legal marriage.... It only serves to undermine the legitimacy of their relationship and their family," The Australian quoted Mr. Rann.

The premier aired his views at the Flinders University Investigator lecture on Sunday night. On Saturday, the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) conference overwhelmingly backed same-sex marriages, which could be considered a rebuff to Australian Prime Minister and current ALP leader Julia Gillard who is against legalising gay unions.

Although all ALP state conferences, except New South Wales, support same-sex marriages, Mr Rann pointed out to achieve that the Marriage Act must be amended. A few weeks ago, Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings supported the Greens motion that called on the federal government to revise the Act.

"This must be through the institution of marriage at a federal level.... Rather than the halfway house of civil unions, as recently introduced in some other states, as well as in New Zealand and the UK," Mr Rann added.

"These civil unions stand as the more timid solution to the issue of same-sex relationships - the escape clause for those who want to see marriage reserved exclusively for relationships between a man and a woman," the premier said.

Although Ms Gillard is against amending the federal Marriage Act, she agreed to debate the same-sex marriage proposal at the ALP national conference in December. However, observers said the party would likely not provide an open support for legalisation of gay marriages, but shift to allowing members to vote based on their conscience from the current party stand against gay marriages.

Mr Rann, who has been South Australia's premier since January 2002, is leaving a legacy of granting women the right to vote, Aborigines land rights and decriminalising homosexuality.

"Unlike safari suits, ideas should not remain confined to specific historical epochs and fashions," Mr Rann told The Sydney Morning Herald.

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