Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is so. This is about trying to get it off the agenda and saying, 'Been there, done that, voted no, close of debate.' It should not be and it will not be the close of that debate. But that is what this is about. There was never any discussion about them taking over private members' time tomorrow or general business time tomorrow night. It was clear when this was first brought up that there would be discussion on Monday, then there would be discussion on Tuesday and extended hours on Tuesday night. There was not any discussion that there would be take-over of Thursday night, or Thursday morning.

You are telling me that the government thought that they could get it through in that short time. Of course they could not because people were going to go on and talk about it. Why rush it? It is not an emergency decision that has to be made. The only reason to rush this is to get it off the agenda, which is a flawed approach. It will not go off the agenda. They want to bow to the Christian Lobby and to the hysterics who think this is going to undermine the institution of marriage but they do not get it. If we do not have marriage equality, that in itself undermines the institution of marriage.

Make no mistake: for those listening out there, this is the government and the coalition's attempt to try and get this issue off the agenda because they are not in tune with what the community wants. The community wants to see marriage equality. They do not want to see this buried at midnight on a Thursday night when they think no-one is watching.