Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset, I want to acknowledge two very dear friends of mine who are in the gallery this evening, Tom and James, because their experience very much informs where I come from in this debate. I remember being in Dubbo, some time ago now, walking the dogs with Tom when he told me he was going to get married. Of course, I was overwhelmed by joy that my friends were embarking on such a joyous occasion, but the reality very quickly set in for me: clearly that wedding wasn't going to take place in Australia. Fortunately, they found themselves some fabulous conservative member of parliament from Copenhagen who was able to marry them, and we got to celebrate here in Canberra many months later with all of their family and friends. But this bill that is before us tonight, this bill that was passed by the Senate last week, the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, is going to ensure that every other LGBTI person in Australia doesn't have to go overseas, doesn't have to run from their communities, from their families, from their extended families and loved ones to take part in that moment that should be shared with everyone you love in your life at that time.

I feel the sense of history very much tonight in this House. The people of Australia have voted yes; they have made their intention very clear. The Senate, likewise, voted yes last week for marriage equality. Now it's really time for this House to do our job—a job that I think we should have done a long time ago, I might add—and make marriage equality law in Australia. By the end of this week we should be free of the last remaining piece of discriminatory law for LGBTIQ Australians. Finally, federal law will, in fact, reflect the basic truth that same-sex couples' love is just as real and that their relationships are just as valid as any other. Finally, people in same-sex relationships will be able to join in marriage, something that heterosexual couples have taken for granted for probably way too long. And finally, federal law will align with the values of the majority of Australians.

I could not be more proud to be the representative for the City of Newcastle in this chamber tonight because Newcastle was a city that returned an overwhelming 'yes' vote when the question was put. In fact, 74.8 per cent of my community in Newcastle voted yes. It was the highest-voting electorate in New South Wales outside of Sydney, and it was, indeed, the highest regional 'yes' vote in Australia.

I can't say that I was utterly surprised in the sense that it had long been the message I had gained from my community over many, many years debating this issue. I also know that Novocastrians have a deeply embedded sense of fairness. Even though a lot of people have approached the question of marriage equality from quite a lot of different angles, in Newcastle that sense of fairness and what is right was so palpable that when given the opportunity to say, 'Do you think people of same sex should have the right to marry like every other Australian?' almost without hesitation, I would say, people were voting yes. I knew that because, when I first stood as a candidate for parliament back in 2012, I attended many of the forums and community debates like we all do when we're running for elections. I can recall being asked time and again where I stood on the question of marriage equality, because in those days it wasn't party policy. It was a conscience vote for the Labor Party when I was first standing. I decided there and then that I would just have to be straight up with the electors of Newcastle that I couldn't compromise on a really fundamental principle.

Having spent my entire life fighting discrimination of one kind or another or being an advocate in that field, I could not for one moment contemplate not completing the job of this parliament. I acknowledge here the great work of the former Labor government in removing discrimination from some 85 separate pieces of legislation, but this marriage law was the one hurdle we hadn't got to. So it is absolutely time for this parliament to address this issue.

When I was asked where I stood and what my position was, I was very happy to look my electorate in the eyes at every rally and forum and say that, if ever I got the opportunity in the Australian parliament to cast a vote on this issue, I would vote a resounding yes. I have got to say that, even for that 25 per cent of Novocastrians who haven't cast a 'yes' vote, they nonetheless have respect for my position, for the majority position of the electorate and, indeed, for the fact that I have just been truthful and up-front about that position from day one. Novocastrians, like many people in Australia, I am sure, want to know you're going to be straight with them on any given issue. You can hold a different opinion, but you just need to be able to explain your position.

The only thing I regret is having just slightly missed out on making it into the top 10 count in the overall results for Australia, although I do acknowledge that I was pipped at the post by the member for Warringah's electorate, which came in that 10th position. That news was greeted with a peculiar kind of satisfaction for me, I guess. But I nonetheless was so extremely proud of the people of Newcastle.

In the time I have remaining tonight I wanted to acknowledge some of the really longstanding and fearless advocates who have been important people in my life, who have been champions in my community and who really laid the foundations for the legislation that comes before us tonight. I want to first acknowledge my deep and now late friend Paul O'Grady, who was the first elected openly gay man in any Australian parliament. Sadly, I lost Paul a few years ago, but he actually wasn't that fussed about marriage in itself. The love of his life had died several years beforehand. But Paul was nonetheless a fierce advocate of social justice, fairness, decency and democracy and stood up every time to be counted against discrimination.

You can't imagine what it would have been like being a young man in 1988 being elected into the New South Wales upper house on a platform of being openly gay. He told me stories that were just horrifying at the time, but he never, ever retreated from being that fearless advocate who looked discrimination straight in the eye and took it on.

I'd also like to make a special acknowledgement of my predecessor, the former member for Newcastle, Sharon Grierson, who was so rock-solid in her support for marriage equality. I don't know if she is listening in tonight, but I got to see her on the night of the results of the survey, and the smile on her face really said it all. On this issue she was well and truly ahead of her time, being the first parliamentarian to ever sign Australian Marriage Equality's charter of equality. At the time, I remember, I was a slightly younger member on her staff, and we were all like: 'Oh, my God! This is not ALP policy. You've just signed this pledge.' And she looked at me and said: 'Sharon, this is an issue I care deeply about. I am a member of the ALP. I'm a fierce and passionate Novocastrian, but I'm a human, and this is a human rights issue.' She had the courage to sign that charter at a time when very few did, I've got to say. Thankfully, that has changed now. She signed that charter in 2006, and she had to wait another six years to be able to cast a yes vote in this chamber. Regretfully, the time was not ripe, and that yes vote did not carry at that time. She's waited another five years for that yes to become a reality. I hope that we in the chamber tonight, or very soon, will give her great heart and encouragement that those initial steps she took really did help pave the way for those of us that came after.

I also want to give a shout out to a very dear friend, Michelle Lancey. I don't know if she is listening tonight, but I expect she will be. Michelle is a very strong Christian woman I've known for a very long time. Michelle has three kids, one of whom is gay. She has never for a moment doubted that every single one of her kids deserves the same rights as the others. She has been a fearless advocate in my community. She heads up PFLAG, the Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Along with her national spokesperson, Shelley Argent, she has led a formidable campaign for decades around this issue. So I want to pay a tribute to Michelle Lancey tonight.

I acknowledge the people of ACON Hunter and all of the advocates and warriors who have spent decades of their lives championing this cause. I think it is fit that we acknowledge those who come before us, which is why I've attempted to put on record some of that tonight.

Of course—in this chamber and in the house opposite—when I think about the journey that my friend and colleague Senator Penny Wong has been on, both within the Labor Party and in the Australian parliament, over such a long period of time, it is utterly unimaginable to have walked in her shoes through some pretty horrific times over the last decade or so in this parliament around this issue. But she never gave up. She never gave up. So, despite however tough it has seemed from time to time, I have never allowed myself the luxury of saying, 'This is too hard,' or ever thinking it wasn't worth pursuing, because the LGBTI community in Australia are relying on us to stand up here in this parliament and do the right thing now. They've waited a very, very long time, and the time really has come.

When I asked Tom earlier tonight, before they left Nyngan to join us in this debate, what message he might want to portray in this debate tonight, he said to me, 'Who would have known that a chance meeting 15 years ago in the Nyngan RSL would lead to me and James settling in that small country town?' He told me just how thankful they are that their friends and community have been so incredibly supportive and accepting of their relationship. But they made the point that I want to end on this evening: they were surprised themselves by the impact that this national postal survey had on them. Their retreat from social media for several weeks or months really matches many of the experiences of young men and women, in particular, in my community. When the 'yes' vote came in, there was an utter sense of relief more than anything that this perpetual judgement on their relationship would finally come to an end. (Time expired)

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