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

It is with pleasure that I stand up to contribute to this debate because, the more we can do in this place to progress the debate on these issues, the better. I have been on my feet in this chamber for as long as I have been in this chamber to contribute to the debates we have had to achieve marriage equality in this country. I will continue to do that and I am really pleased that the Greens are yet again at the forefront of this debate, bringing this bill on for debate to recognise foreign same-sex marriages.

As people who have made contributions to the debate have articulated, this was brought to a head by the very tragic circumstances in South Australia over the summer, where we saw Mr David Bulmer-Rizzi pass away and his death certificate not recognising his marriage. That is in fact a lie. We have contributed to a lie. He was married. How can it be possible that his death certificate actually has a lie? He was married. He was deeply loved. He was on his honeymoon. Imagine being in that situation. It is unbelievable that that can still occur in the 21st century in this country. I must admit it shames me that that could happen in this country.

Look at last year in particular. We saw so much progress internationally in terms of marriage equality. On 22 May last year a referendum in Ireland reflected the people's call for marriage equality, and it was truly an amazing moment in history. A month later the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that same-sex couples had a fundamental right to marry. We all saw the coverage of that. We all—certainly on this side in the Greens and my extended families—celebrated with our friends that we had seen such progress. We all saw the cheering crowds. I was part of the amazing rally in Russell Square in Perth in Western Australia, where we had over 5,000 people come together in the pouring rain to send a message to the federal government but also to celebrate what had happened internationally with the progress that we made. It was to call on our government to reflect the people's will and progress marriage equality.

Mr Abbott's response was that we will have a plebiscite which now, as has been articulated in the chamber by Senator Lines most recently, many people in the coalition are saying they will not respect. The fact is that we should not need that plebiscite. We should be progressing right now with marriage equality. One of the steps now is to support this bill in recognising same-sex marriages. I heard Senator Bernardi say in his contribution that we should not allow ourselves to be controlled by foreign decisions and that they are controlling Australia. Perhaps we should not be recognising any marriages from overseas if that is his call. I am shocked. My parents were married in England. Maybe we should not be respecting their marriage, because it is a foreign marriage. Of course it is a ridiculous argument and a ridiculous argument for this particular matter.

Maybe we should go back to the time in marriage when divorced people could not get married. That would nullify my current marriage. Maybe we should do that. Or maybe we should take it right back to when marriage was really, for a lot of people, about getting control of women's assets. Maybe we should go back to that time. It is a ridiculous argument to say we are just preserving marriage, because marriage has changed over the centuries and it needs to change again. We need to recognise same-sex marriages. As I said, at least this current bill is a step in the right direction. For couples who come to Australia, their marriages will be recognised so that nobody is ever again put in the position of Mr Marco Bulmer-Rizzi—the terrible circumstances that he has been put through, the pain and agony, on top of the grief of losing his husband, of having a lie put on the death certificate and having to have that fight. I do not want to see anybody have to go through that ever again.

In my home state of Western Australia, unfortunately, we do not recognise foreign same-sex marriages. We are not as lucky as some of the other states, and I will come to that a bit later. Not only would this bill address the issue I have just been talking about, where people come to Australia and tragic circumstances happen; it would also address marriages for Australians who have gone overseas and got married. That is a hard thing to do, too. They have made the effort to go overseas to get married so that their love is legalised. They come home, and Australia says, essentially, 'Get stuffed. We're not recognising that. We're not recognising your marriage.'

Members of the coalition were saying this morning, 'You can do something else—a civil union. You can do something else. You can have a ceremony. You can have your flowers.' Clearly they do not actually believe that themselves. They know why we have the institution of marriage, why people want to get married. I myself have chosen to get married. I have actually done it twice. We share it because we want to legalise our love, have it recognised. It is not just about the ceremony. The ceremony is great, but it is actually formalised in front of your loved ones, your friends, your family. That is why this is important. People should not be fobbed off with: 'You can have a ceremony. You can have your friends there. But you can't have access to our protected institution of marriage.' As I said, marriage has evolved.

You can look at statistics for the LGBTI community. I am putting this into the debate because I think it is very important because it puts in context the way that all members of the LGBTI community have been treated, but particularly young people. When you look at statistics from the Australian Human Rights Commission and beyondblue for 2013-14, they show some of the very significant impacts of the discrimination, the abuse and the vilification that members of the LGBTI community still get in our community. Sixty-one per cent of LGBTI young people report experiencing verbal homophobic abuse. Eighteen per cent have experienced physical homophobic abuse. I can report that very dear friends of mine in fact have been subject to that abuse. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are three times more likely than the broader population to experience depression. LGBTI people are at a higher risk of suicide than many other groups of our population. Same-sex attracted Australians are up to 14 times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. At least 50 per cent of trans people have actually attempted suicide at least once in their lives. A large number of LGBTI people hide their sexuality or gender identity when accessing services, at social events or at work. Young people aged 16 to 24 are more likely to hide their sexuality or gender identity. This is wrong. This is a tragedy that people suffer every day of their lives.

This is, as I said, the 21st century. What the laws do makes a real-life impact on people's lives. It is not just a small difference. There is a huge difference that we can make by addressing marriage equality, by changing our laws. This bill, I must admit, does not achieve everything. We have still got a way to go. But at least it will recognise those marriages that have taken place overseas.

I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work done in Western Australia. As I said, unfortunately we are not one of the states who have made the significant progress of recognising foreign same-sex marriages, which is a great shame to me as a Western Australian. But I must pay a lot of tribute to one of my colleagues, Lynn MacLaren, a member of the Legislative Council in Western Australia, who has been fighting tirelessly ever since she has been a member of parliament—in fact since before she was a member of parliament—to achieve same-sex marriage, to achieve marriage equality, and has also been working on trying to achieve recognition of foreign same-sex marriages in Western Australia. But we need to make sure that we have a national approach. Lynn has campaigned to improve services for the trans community, to have overseas marriage recognised in WA and for the right to remain married after a sex transition. She has campaigned to make sure that people have the right to be relieved of a criminal conviction for engaging in consensual gay sex in years past. She has campaigned at every level of government to try and bring about change.

This is an issue that we fundamentally need to address. I would like to make reference to the LGBTI community in Western Australia and particularly the young people in Western Australia, whom I have spent a lot of time with, spoken to on numerous occasions and helped to campaign. We know in this place that you are suffering from discrimination at home in Western Australia. You have been failed by your politicians to date because we still have not achieved marriage equality. I should say 'some of your politicians', because many of us in this place have been fighting tirelessly. I know my colleagues have spoken about the work of Bob Brown and Christine Milne. And my colleagues who are here today and I all campaign tirelessly on this issue. We know that the community deserves better. We have been standing up with the people of Western Australia, the Greens in Western Australia, to change these laws and to enable you to have your voices heard. We will continue to support you, and all Australians, but we Western Australians will support the Western Australian LGBTI community to achieve this change. As I said earlier, we are not going to stop until we achieve change.

On previous occasions, with permission, I have shared the experience of Graham and Damian Douglas-Meyer in this place. I think their experience is particularly pertinent in this debate. I count Graham and Damian as friends. I will again remind the chamber of their experience. Graham and Damian have spoken publicly in the past about how they wanted to demonstrate their commitment in the same way their siblings did. The symbolism and ceremonial aspects of a wedding were important to them. They wanted the same thing. They had a commitment ceremony in 2004. Their friends and family were there and their union was blessed by a priest. It was a wedding ceremony for them, and their friends and family, but they wanted the recognition of the wider community. So they were able to marry in Canada, which had removed that piece of discrimination from its legislation, but when they came back to Australia their marriage was not recognised. Despite their best efforts, our broader community was not willing to recognise their love and commitment. That is wrong. Their marriage should be recognised. They went to a lot of effort to be able to go to Canada. They are married, but it is not recognised here. We want to change that. We need to change that. We need to recognise these marriages.

Ultimately, this is a debate about whether we should recognise the love that two people share and whether we should accept and celebrate it. This is what we are really debating. I would argue passionately that we should recognise and respect the love that any two people share. Those who do not support this bill are trying to deny the love of two people and, in fact, to stand in their way. In Mr Bulmer-Rizzi's case it is a falsehood. Not only are they denying it but also there is a lie now on the death certificate. It is a lie. They want to point to people in our community and say, 'Your love isn't real; your love doesn't exist,' which is of course a complete nonsense.

Some states have made progress on this issue. New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania all recognise overseas same-sex marriages. These are important steps, but tragically many states do not; hence the need for this bill. As I have articulated earlier, this debate got renewed focus on it because of the tragic circumstances in South Australia. And, as Senator Simms articulated, it is good to hear that South Australia is moving on.

This bill is an important bill. We should standardise recognition of foreign same-sex marriages—overseas marriages—across Australia. It is an important step. Coming from Western Australia, I am ashamed that my home state does not recognise overseas same-sex marriages. My home state does not. I expect my national laws to achieve this. This tragic story that has happened in South Australia could happen in my home state of Western Australia. I do not want to see that happen. It should never happen again. That is why it is important that we pass this bill. Right now there are people in Western Australia whose love and commitment is not recognised. They are in our community, like Graham and Damian. They are Western Australians. They are Australians and their love, their commitment and their marriage is not recognised. That is a huge shame on Western Australia.

Australian Marriage Equality has written to the state Attorney-General calling for urgent change. I support that and I add my name to that call, but here today in the Commonwealth parliament we can make a change. We can make a change to recognise foreign same-sex marriages. This is a part of the step to achieve marriage equality. It is a small step, but we can take it and we must take it. I commend this bill to the Senate.