Expungement of criminal records

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled. The Petition of the undersigned Residents of Tasmania draws to the attention of the House that: - (a) the Tasmanian Parliament has yet to pass legislation allowing for the expunction of criminal records related to private, consenting, sex between adult males, and cross-dressing; (b) people with these records are still disadvantaged when seeking employment or volunteer roles; (c) such activity should never have been a crime and those convicted of its should no longer have to bear the stigma of their conviction; (d) legislation allowing for the expunction of such crimes has been passed in several other states; and (e) Tasmania was stigmatised for being the last state to decriminalise homosexual sex and the only state to criminalise cross-dressing, and our continued failure to allow for the expunction of criminal records under these former laws will only add to this stigma. Your petitioners therefore request that legislation allowing for the expunction of criminal records related to private, consenting, sex between adult males, and cross-dressing be introduced and passed as soon as possible.