 1961", marriage laws in Australia were generally regarded as an exclusive Commonwealth power.The precise rights of states and territories with respect to creating state-based same-sex marriage laws was complicated further by the Howard Government amendment to the "Marriage Act 1961" in 2004 to define marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) provided a test case on the matter, when in October 2013, the territory's Legislative Assembly passed a law allowing same-sex marriage.