Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After the government's infighting came to a head on Monday, I sat down and penned some words on what same-sex marriage means for me as a mother and as an MP. I shared these words with my electorate, and it was really warming to see the support that I received. Some related to my pain, as the mother of a gay man, to see one of my children being discriminated against. Some personally recognised the humiliation that they themselves are subjected to as members of the LGBTI community. Many people, though, regardless of their sexuality, recognise this for what it is: a weak decision by a weak Prime Minister, intended to insult and divide and to delay the inevitable. In a society that is continually moving forward and progressing, equality is inevitable. Once, people were against interracial marriage, giving women a vote or recognising Indigenous Australians as people, but times change and societies move forward.

A country can only move forward with a strong leader—not one who has been unconvincingly whimpering out the words, 'I'm a strong leader,' when everyone else is thinking the opposite, not one who leads a dysfunctional rabble that would rather throw their hands up and say, 'I can't do this,' and ask the Australian people to do their job for them. Elected representatives are elected to represent everyone, regardless of whom they love, and to pass legislation that moves Australia forward. This can mean making really tough decisions, conceding defeat and admitting that sometimes the other side has it right. But your government, this government, refuses to do that; instead, they are employing a form of vote collection which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has previously recognised as a calculated method designed 'to disenfranchise Australians, particularly young people'. That's how he described a postal vote.

It's really no surprise that all of those who were publicly against marriage equality were the ones pushing for a postal plebiscite: people like my neighbouring MP, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, who as the member for Dickson has just overseen the closure of—wait for this—a post office in his electorate. He's just overseen the closure of it. Even this government knows that marriage equality is inevitable, but it wants this to fail. Even though they know the Australian people want marriage equality, they want this to fail. Even though they know that allowing two people who love each other to be treated the same as everyone else, they want this to fail.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I encourage people to enrol to vote for the forthcoming plebiscite on marriage for same-sex couples. This is your chance, a once-in-a-generation opportunity, to have a say on the future of the country but, more important than that, it is an opportunity to do something great for our country. If you've turned 18 since the middle of last year, all I can do is encourage you to make sure that you go to aec.gov.au to make sure that you can have your say in improving this great nation. If you would like to participate in helping make sure that the Goldstein electorate is one of the electorates with the strongest votes in the country, I recommend contacting my office on (03) 9557 4644 or contacting me at tim.wilson.mp@aph.gov.au. This is your chance to have your say but, more importantly, to make us a better country where every Australian feels equal, feels accepted by society, and where we value the commitment between people equally under the law.

I would like to encourage the voters of Goldstein to vote yes in the forthcoming plebiscite on marriage for same-sex copies. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make this country a better place, where every single person feels equal in their dignity and respected by the law. When you look at the challenges that our country faces, it's important that we be a united nation, where everybody has a chance to contribute to their best endeavours. It's an opportunity for individuals to come forward and form families as a foundation for community and a great nation, and it is when people come together and show that commitment to each other that we have the foundations of a great Australia into the future. That is what marriage is—it is not some legal term; it is a social construct, a cultural construct, of commitment between individuals. It is the job of the law to fully respect those people. That is why this is not just a vote yes for people who may be affected directly; it is also a vote yes for friends, for families, for co-workers and for people who want to have the type of country that we want to be. You have the chance to make that happen, and only you have that chance.

So, if your ballot paper has been sent to you, I recommend you collect it and you make your own decision. But I stress that I will be voting yes and I would encourage you to do so as well. This is not a debate between politicians. This is about you making a conscious decision about the type of country we want to be. Make sure you get that postal ballot, you take it to a mailbox and you send it back, to make sure that you have your say and we can make our nation a more perfect commonwealth.