Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

What I was saying—and the Minister for Trade might care to listen to this because he has just misrepresented the position that I put about two minutes ago—is that we believe there is some discussion within the legal fraternity about what this bill exactly means. So we are moving, out of abundant caution, to make sure that it is fully understood that this parliament reaffirms its support for the traditional definition of marriage. We understand that the Labor Party are deeply conflicted about this question. They have people who do not believe that, and they are being forced to toe the line, even though we know that there is great dissension within the Labor Party about whether they should or should not support the Marriage Act.

I am not seeking to run a scare campaign. The opposition is not seeking to run a scare campaign about any of this. We are seeking to legislate consistently so the will of this legislature remains perfectly clear. That is exactly what these amendments are trying to achieve.

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