Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Melbourne Ports for his question. Yesterday, this House passed the second stage of the Rudd government’s reforms to remove same-sex discrimination from Commonwealth laws. In fact, the laws that were passed by this House yesterday remove discrimination from some 68 laws, with knock-on effects to others. They include the areas of social security, taxation, Medicare and educational assistance.

The debate took place over some three days, and there were some outstanding contributions from members from both sides. I congratulate those who participated. I expressed disappointment yesterday, however, that one member was absent from the debate, and that was the member for Wentworth. Members will recall that before the last election, the member for Wentworth circulated a newsletter—

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