Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1)notes:

(a)the Prime Minister has previously said he supports a free vote on marriage equality;

(b)former Prime Minister John Howard supports a free vote on marriage equality;

(c)Members of the Prime Minister’s own party have said that they would not respect the result of the Prime Minister’s plebiscite on marriage equality;

(d)a plebiscite on marriage equality would cause a divisive national debate, which would harm community cohesion and give voice to extreme bigotry; and

(e)lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians and their families are just as valued as every other member of the Australian community; and

(2)calls on the Prime Minister to be the Prime Minister that Australians hoped he would be and allow a free vote in the Parliament on marriage equality; and

(3)suspends so much of the standing and sessional orders as would prevent private Members’ business order of the day No. 1 in the Federation Chamber relating to the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, being returned to the House for further consideration, being called on immediately and being given priority over all other business for passage through all stages by no later than 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 2 March 2016, with the question on the second reading being put immediately.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Griffith from moving the following motion forthwith.

That the House:

(1)notes:

(a)the Prime Minister has previously said he supports a free vote on marriage equality;

(b)former Prime Minister John Howard supports a free vote on marriage equality;

(c)Members of the Prime Minister’s own party have said that they would not respect the result of the Prime Minister’s plebiscite on marriage equality;

(d)a plebiscite on marriage equality would cause a divisive national debate, which would harm community cohesion and give voice to extreme bigotry; and

(e)lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians and their families are just as valued as every other member of the Australian community; and

(2)calls on the Prime Minister to be the Prime Minister that Australians hoped he would be and allow a free vote in the Parliament on marriage equality; and

(3)suspends so much of the standing and sessional orders as would prevent private Members’ business order of the day No. 1 in the Federation Chamber relating to the Marriage Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, being returned to the House for further consideration, being called on immediately and being given priority over all other business for passage through all stages by no later than 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 2 March 2016, with the question on the second reading being put immediately.

It is well past time for marriage equality in this country. We know it and the Prime Minister knows it. Everyone in this country knows it is well past time for marriage equality and we can do it today. We can make marriage equality a reality right now. We can do it today. We can do it in this parliament. We have the power. The High Court says we have the power. The community knows we have the power. Everyone in the this room knows we have the power to make marriage equality a reality right now.

I call on Prime Minister Turnbull to agree to put this cross-party marriage equality bill to a vote. I call on him to allow his MPs a free vote rather than requiring them to vote against marriage equality as is the coalition's current position. Standing orders should be suspended so that we can vote on this bill and make marriage equality a reality together. Members of this parliament should do their job and legislate and that includes for marriage equality. We can reach across the aisle and pass marriage equality together. We can reach across the aisle to today. We can pass marriage equality together as a parliament. It does not have to be part of a divisive election or a plebiscite campaign. Standing orders should be suspended so that we can vote on this bill and make marriage equality a reality together.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians and their families should not have to wait any longer to have the same rights as everyone else in this country, including most people in this room. The best time for marriage equality is already. The second best time is now without further delay. So let's all do our jobs and legislate. Let's all get together, let's reach out, let's legislate and do our job. Standing orders should be suspended so that we can do so.

A majority of Australians support marriage equality. Parliament should get on with doing its job and make marriage equality a reality. It is our job. This is a representative democracy. If members in this place do not believe in representative democracy then what are they doing here? If you do not believe in representative democracy then what are you doing here?

I do not often agree with former Prime Minister John Howard—it does not happen to me very often—but on this point here he is absolutely right. Former Prime Minister John Howard says that he believes in representative democracy. For the current Prime Minister, representative democracy was good enough for him as a means of becoming the current Prime Minister. He was perfectly happy to have a representative democracy to become the Prime Minister. I believe in representative democracy.

Mr Watts interjecting—

Yes, member for Gellibrand; he did, didn't he? He says one thing and does another. That is his form.

Now is the time to do our job. Now is the time to work together. Everyone in this room knows that all we need to do is suspend standing orders and bring on the bill. It is a cross-party bill. It is a bill that is moderate, that is pragmatic, that has support across the parliament and support across the community.

I want to acknowledge Australian marriage equality—PFLAG, Rainbow Labor—I am proud of all the organisations across the country who have worked hard for marriage equality. They all want us to get this done. I acknowledge: Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt; the member for Werriwa; the member for Brisbane; the member for Indi; the member for Melbourne; and the member for Denison—all of whom are the movers or cosponsors of this bill. They have acted in the spirit of non-partisanship and we can do it now.

To all of you, I say we can all actually pass marriage equality in time for Mardi Gras. Imagine Mardi Gras on the weekend if we are all together celebrating marriage equality? We can hold this up as an example of a parliament working together to deliver something for the community. We can stand together. This can be something that we have delivered as a parliament, not as the Liberal Party or the Labor Party or the National Party or the Greens Party, but as a parliament as one, in unity.

I acknowledge, of course, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and I also acknowledge every single member past and present and all of my Labor colleagues who have fought for so long for marriage equality. The Deputy Leader, the Leader of the Opposition, the leadership in the other place—these are people who have campaigned for a very long time to deliver marriage equality, and I particularly want to single out the Leader of the Opposition for his leadership in this.

But I also acknowledge, as well as the people who are in this place leading this debate and who are on the national scene leading it, every single person who is waiting for us—every single grandparent who is waiting for us to do our job; every single parent who is waiting for us to do our job; every single person who is waiting for us to do our job so that they can get married.

Shelley Argent OAM, who is the leader of PFLAG, was here last week. She is 66 years old. How long does she have to wait until one of her sons has the same right as her other son? How long do your friends and my friends have to wait? How long do our family members have to wait? How long does my grandmother have to wait? She is in her 80s—how long does she have to wait to see my cousin get married? How long do my friends in their 70s and 80s have to wait to marry the long-term partners that they have had for almost their whole lives? How much longer? How much longer do they have to put up with the people on that side using the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah's, obstruction tactic—the tactic that he deployed to try to prevent marriage equality and that has now been adopted 100 per cent holus-bolus by this Prime Minister?

Why should Australia have to wait because the current Prime Minister is too weak to overcome the impediments imposed upon him by the former Prime Minister? It does not have to be this way. The parliament has the power to make marriage equality a reality. The High Court has told us so. The Constitution confers upon us the power to legislate. We have been elected to legislate, and that is why we should suspend standing orders.

Let's not outsource. Let's not abandon our posts. Let's just do our jobs and get on with it. I know it is a novel idea for some of the people over there, but let's just do our jobs and legislate. Standing orders should be suspended so that we can do that. Everyone in this place knows the plebiscite was former Prime Minister Abbott's attempt to block marriage equality. It is a waste of time and it is a waste of $160 million. Guys, can you not think of a better use for $160 million than for a plebiscite to tell you what you already know and what some of your own members have said they will not follow?

To be honest, they have people on that side who are saying, 'Oh well, we're not going to abide by the plebiscite.' They are saying they want to have a free vote. They are saying it is going to be a free vote. If we are going to have a free vote, then I have a good idea: how about we have it today? Let's have the free vote today. If we are going to do it anyway, let's save the $160 million. We are all here; we are all ready to have that free vote. There are people here who are ready to have that free vote. There are so many people of goodwill in this parliament of all persuasions who are ready to have a free vote because they want to see marriage equality made a reality.

This is a serious matter. If the Prime Minister believes, and he has previously argued that he does, that marriage equality should be a reality, and if the Prime Minister understands—and I know he does, because he has previously argued for it—that it should be done by a free vote in this parliament, then we can do it now. That is why we should have a suspension of standing orders. We should not have an ultimately futile plebiscite that people on the other side have already said they will not abide by.

We should not spend the $160 million and, most importantly, we should not have a national vote on whether some kids' parents can get married when other kids' parents cannot get married. We should not have a national vote where kids are going to hear that their families are in some way inferior to the families of other people in the community. That is the disgrace in this issue. That is at the heart of the problem with this plebiscite idea that the former Prime Minister bowled up to the Australian people: it is going to hurt people. It is going to hurt families.

In a country where discrimination, exclusion and marginalisation of LGBTI people contributes to anxiety, depression and suicide, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging this idea of a plebiscite which is just a political fix to block marriage equality. Let's get together, let's suspend standing orders and let's make marriage equality a reality now.

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