Dear Christian: Are some same sex couples more equal in the eyes
of our federal bureaucracy – even within the same departments? I gather
there are some curious anomalies out there.

Dear Stonewall: Now here’s a curious case study – and would you
believe that it comes from the moralising Monk’s own health officials.
It appears that the federal government lets same-sex couples qualify
for the private health insurance rebate and couple rates with Medibank
Private – but doesn’t recognise them when it comes to calculating the
Medicare Safety Net.

This raises a number of immediate questions. Are same-sex couples only
recognised by the Howard Government if they are wealthy enough to have
private health insurance? Are private sector gays more equal than
public sector homosexuals? Does the federal government have to obey its
own laws?

These aren’t just matters for the Monk. Minister for human services Joe
Hockey should be taking them into account, given his brief to improve
and streamline delivery of government services. Indeed, here’s hoping
that he’s got his bureaucrats looking out for anomalies. Going by the
2001 census, more than 250 same sex couples in his own electorate would
be keen to know what he’s doing on the issue.

So it seems that as far as the government is concerned, same-sex
couples can do what they like in private as long as they don’t do it in
public when it comes to health cover.