Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I do second the motion, and I am delighted to do so. We should suspend standing orders because gay and lesbian Australians have waited too long for this change. On the weekend thousands of people will gather to march in Sydney—including, for the first time, the Leader of the Opposition, the alternate Prime Minister of Australia. Since the first Mardi Gras in 1978, much has changed. Just this month we heard the New South Wales parliament's moving apology to those people who marched in 1978 who were subjected to violence, who were outed in the newspapers at the time, some of whom lost their jobs and many of whom lost connection with their family because of the political action they took. Much has changed since 1978, but there is one last great piece of unfinished business, and we should suspend standing orders today because we can deal with that today.

When Labor was last in government federally we removed discrimination from every piece of Commonwealth legislation—in health care, in immigration, in taxation, in family law, in benefits—except for this last one. And now is the time for this parliament to deal with this last remaining piece of discrimination. We should suspend standing orders today because this Prime Minister has broken the hearts of gay and lesbian Australians. He is a Prime Minister who in the past has supported marriage equality. He is on the record as supporting marriage equality. This is a Prime Minister who very recently said that this parliament is the place to legislate for marriage equality, but he sold out those values to get the support of the right wing of the Liberal Party for his prime ministership.

Of course, it is not just me saying this parliament should legislate for marriage equality. I was helpfully handed the copy of the Constitution that the member for Kingsford-Smith carries with him everywhere he goes, and you only need to go to part five, section 51, placitum (xxi) to see where it says this parliament is the place to legislate for marriage equality.

But you do not need to believe me and you do not need to believe the Constitution of Australia. Those people on the other side, for whom John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, is the font of all wisdom, only need to go to John Howard's comments earlier this week, where John Howard said this parliament is the place to legislate for marriage equality. That is why we should suspend standing orders today, because everybody agrees that this is the place that should legislate.

We do not need a plebiscite; we can legislate this today because there is a bipartisan private member's bill before the parliament. People may remember some of the genesis of this. About two years ago, in March 2014, I wrote to all of those opposite and asked them to co-sponsor a bill in this parliament. Not one single response did I get. Then it was time for the Leader of the Opposition to put forward his private member's bill. What happened? The then Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, said: 'This should be above politics. We should get the backbenchers to do it so we can move on it quickly.' We did that. We actually stepped aside in an effort to move this along, with goodwill, in the hope that this parliament could get this piece of unfinished business done.

I recognise the member for Leichhardt and other members opposite who have been public in their support for this. They have worked with my colleague to make sure that this is a bipartisan issue. Instead, what do we get from the rest of those opposite? Instead of the goodwill that we have shown in working in a bipartisan fashion we get another delaying tactic: a $160 million plebiscite that will without doubt send a message to the LGBTI community in Australia that there is something wrong with them. Kids growing up who are same-sex attracted, who already experience higher rates of bullying and higher rates of social exclusion, what are they going to hear? They are going to hear that there is something wrong with them. It is going to send a message to kids who are growing up today with same-sex parents that their families are somehow broken. It appals me to think that people growing up today, whose mums and dads love them so much, will hear that there is something wrong with those families. We should suspend standing orders today to bring on this legislation and finish this business.

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