Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It must be Christmas time. If we are making decisions such as this based on the view of the proponents of the legislation that there may well be a change made in the Senate, I think it is a dreadful premise to base a decision on. I have not heard a logical argument to support not voting for this amendment. The Minister for Defence made some comments, but he essentially talked about tissue, not eggs. The member for Lalor has not put a convincing argument as to why this amendment should not be accepted. I do not support the legislation, and I will not support the legislation, but I would suggest to the proponents of the bill and those other members who are listening—and I take the member for Menzies’ comments on board—that a lot of people would not have realised that the legislation will allow these procedures to occur.

I think it is very important that those proponents of the legislation do not vote against this amendment just because they believe the original bill may well be threatened in the Senate. So I suggest to the proponents that, with the lack of logical argument against the amendment, they not call the division against this amendment. I did not support the legislation in the second reading, but I think this is a very important issue that we are making a decision on, and we will be judged by the people within our electorates. I am sure in all our electorates there are people who believe the bill is a positive thing and there are others who do not. I believe the majority of people in my electorate are not in favour of the legislation. I am sure in all our electorates they would not be in favour of legitimising a practice which is about the removal of ova—not the removal of tissue—for scientific research based on tissue. I am sure that there would be no electorate where a majority of people would agree with that practice. In conclusion, I urge all members to support the amendment, because if they do not it is something that they will have to live with in their own consciences for a very long time.

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