Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to say congratulations Ireland on becoming the first nation to legalise marriage equality by popular vote on the weekend.

Marriage equality is increasingly becoming the norm around the world, having been already adopted in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, England, Wales, Scotland and most US states. However, to see a nation who only decriminalised homosexuality in 1993 and only allowed divorce in 1996 take this step has truly captured the world's imagination.

It was difficult not to get caught up in the outpouring of love and joy at the conclusion of the referendum. The spirit of the Irish has long tugged at the hearts of the sentimental around the world. Indeed, in his cringe worthy St Patrick's Day video message earlier this year, the Prime Minister quoted the historian Paddy O'Farrell when noting that:

… the Irish were the galvanising force at the centre of our evolving national character.

Well, let us all be galvanised by the result in Ireland on the weekend. Let us take heart that the vast majority of people do not want to see the perpetuation of petty and hurtful discrimination against their fellow human beings. Let us take reassurance from the result that equality in the eyes of the law need not be an affront to religion. I say to the Prime Minister, 'Get that green tie out again and follow the moral example of the Irish.' It is time the Prime Minister granted Liberal MPs a conscience vote on this issue so that the Australian parliament can get this issue right once and for all.