Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this motion to take note of the report by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010 that was handed down today. First of all, I would like to thank the committee chair, Senator Crossin, for how this committee inquiry was conducted. This issue has been hotly debated in this place for a number of years. This issue brings about a high level of emotion from all sides in relation to whether we support the idea of equality in law when it comes to marriage. I believe that the committee conducted itself extremely well in those circumstances. I speak in strong favour of the majority report that has been handed down today. It is time that we saw this place rid our federal laws of discrimination against same-sex couples simply because they love each other and happen to be of the same gender. It is time for us to get rid of discrimination in this country against any couple who love each other and want to see their relationship recognised in federal law regardless of their sexuality or gender.

The submissions to this inquiry were overwhelmingly in support of this position. The submissions were thoughtful and personal in many aspects; others were not as personal as they were based on fact and based on basic understanding of fairness under the rule of law. Many of the submissions spoke about how Australians want leadership to rid this country of the discrimination that currently exists within the Marriage Act, to allow the love between two people regardless of their gender, regardless of their sexuality, and to treat them equally.

Through the course of this inquiry, we saw world leaders change their views when it comes to marriage equality. During this inquiry, we saw Barack Obama in the United States change his view to now support marriage equality. When he announced that his position had changed, he spoke about how he had gone through a very long and thoughtful process to come to that position and how, in the end, treating people equally was always going to be better than treating people unequally simply because they happen to be in love with somebody of the same gender. We have seen John Key in New Zealand, as a conservative, change his view to support marriage equality.

I am a strong supporter of the institution of marriage. I believe it is an important institution in our society and that it is why it is underpinned by federal legislation. I believe it gives security and stability to families and to individuals in their partnerships. It helps to build that strong support that ultimately benefits our community and our society. That is my personal view, and I believe that more people, if they want to enter into that commitment, should be legally able to. I also acknowledge that there are various religious groups that want to be able to continue to make decisions about the marriages that they endorse from a religious perspective. Churches and various other religious groups already do this in so many ways. They make decisions on a daily basis about who they will and will not marry and what values they put on recognising, from a religious perspective, their relationships. This bill, particularly with the recommended amendment of strengthening and putting beyond doubt their ability to do that, will not in any way prevent religious organisations from continuing to make their own mark on relationships as they see fit. But over 63 per cent of Australian marriages are conducted by civil celebrants, recognised under federal law, and this committee is saying that, if you love the person you are in a relationship with and you want to see that relationship committed to, that relationship should be able to be recognised under the federal Marriage Act if that is the choice of that couple.

We know that in this place many individual members of parliament have undertaken that journey of change for themselves. We have seen members in this place, as well as in the other, change their view about this issue, and it has been down to the hard work and very honest representations from individuals who have been directly affected by this issue and the current discrimination. Mums and dads have continuously visited our offices across this parliament, particularly over the past two years, and said that they want the same rights for their adult children, regardless of their sexuality or of the person they love. Shelley Argent is one whom Senator Crossin mentioned. She ought to be nominated as Australian mother of the year for her amazing advocacy for her gay son to have equal rights under the law. Geoff Thomas, a Vietnam veteran who fought for the rights of our country, now wants his son to have the right to be equal under Australian law. He also made very passionate representations to members of parliament. But many, many thousands of individuals have written to their members of parliament or to this committee, asking for the discrimination in our current Marriage Act to be removed. Regardless of whom you love and regardless of their gender, if you want to have that relationship recognised in law, this committee is saying that it should happen and that we should rid the law of this discrimination.

The recommendations and the majority report are supported by voices across the chamber. For the first time in this parliament's history, we see members from the Labor Party, the coalition and the Greens agreeing that this type of discrimination must come to an end, must be removed. It is inevitable that we see this reform happen. It is inevitable, but we need true leadership from our leaders in this place to make these recommendations become reality. That means voices within this place feeling free to speak up and state their position, but also the Leader of the Opposition and our Prime Minister recognising that, at the end of the day, giving Australians equal access, equal rights, under the law cannot be a bad thing. It must be a good thing to ensure that everyone is treated equally under the law, regardless of their sexuality or gender. The sky has not fallen in on those countries around the world which have taken the step to rid their laws of discrimination and allowed marriage equality to happen. Indeed, the sun is shining more brightly. We see more people wanting to support the important institution of marriage. We see families having the support to have their relationship recognised equally under the law. We know that young lesbian and gay Australians struggle every day with feeling as though they are second-class citizens. During the inquiry into this bill—and it is referenced in this report—even the former Justice of the High Court Michael Kirby, a remarkable man who rose to the top of the legal profession, stated clearly to the inquiry that he still felt like he was a second-class citizen because the law discriminated— (Time expired)