Labor has given the gay community an iron-clad guarantee it will abolish all instances of same-s-x discrimination in federal legislation if it is elected to power later this year, The Sydney Star Observer reports this week.

“The Labor candidates in Sydney’s three gay ghetto seats – Anthony Albanese, Tanya Plibersek and George Newhouse – said the Human Rights Commissioner’s recent recommendations to remove discrimination would be implemented early in Labor’s first term in office,” according to the SSO.

“The states and territories have already removed this discrimination; action federally is long overdue,” the SSO quotes Grayndler MP Anthony Albanese as saying.

But there appears to be some same s-x action from the government, in the wake of High Court judge Michael Kirby’s request for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock to change judicial pension arrangements to ensure equal treatment of his partner, Johan van Vloten.

Representatives of three gay rights groups met one of Prime Minister John Howard’s senior advisers in Canberra yesterday and are meeting the Attorney in Melbourne today.

The meetings official follow the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission findings that more than 20,000 gay Australian couples face systematic discrimination on a daily basis.

High profile human rights lawyer and Labor candidate for the Malcolm Turnbull’s seat of Wentworth George Newhouse says Labor had committed to removing discriminatory laws and the government should do likewise.