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"It's hard for those of us not in that situation to imagine what it would feel like to have a criminal record for something that today that is accepted as lawful. "Despite the repeal of homosexual offences, some continue to have criminal records that affect various aspects of their lives such as work, volunteering or travelling. "Many Tasmanian have continued to suffer from distress and disadvantage as a result of the criminalisation of conduct that is now accepted as lawful. "It is our view that the broader Tasmanian community would believe that people should never have been charged or convicted in the first place, even if it was thought at the time it was the right thing to do, it was not," Mr Hodgman said.
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Today, Mr Hodgman said the Government was "seeking to remedy this as far as possible through this legislation". The records of people convicted under the now-repealed laws criminalising "sexual intercourse against the order of nature", "consensual sexual intercourse between males" and "indecent practices between males" are set to be expunged, a move foreshadowed in 2015, but yet to officially take place. Premier Will Hodgman said the Government apologised "to those directly affected in this way, to their family and loved ones". Tasmania was the last jurisdiction to decriminalise sex between adult men in private, in 1997, after decades of campaigning by the gay community. "We hope those affected will accept our acknowledgement that those laws were wrong." Read moreĪcting Attorney-General Matthew Groom told the Tasmanian Parliament "we are sorry". The years between first and last Australian states decriminalising male homosexuality.