Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's views and my personal views on the marriage equality plebiscite and the $122 million postal survey are well known. Both are a terrible idea. Both are a waste of money. Both would divide Australians and hurt our LGBTI community and are nothing more than a cop-out. This $122 million postal survey is happening only because this Prime Minister cannot solve his own internal party problems. Of all the options for dealing with marriage equality, this is the worst. It will be non-binding and voluntary. It will disenfranchise young people and remote communities who are not on the roll or who have trouble accessing the postal system. It will be difficult or impossible for people living overseas or on holiday to take part. There will be no legal protections against voter fraud or bribery or intimidation, no protections against dishonest and deceitful campaign material and no recourse for challenge through the Court of Disputed Returns. The Prime Minister has confirmed this today. It is rigged against a yes vote, that much is clear.

Let me say at the outset that I understand why some in the LGBTI community are so outraged by all this that they would want to boycott the vote completely. I'm here to say: please don't. This government and the anti-marriage-equality activists who support them are doing everything they can to stack the odds so they can get a no vote and pretend that is the end of the matter. We cannot let that happen. We cannot let them win, because the only thing worse than having this vote at all is having it happen and a no vote being the result. That is why I, so many of my parliamentary colleagues from all parties and I hope a large part of the LGBTI community will be strongly campaigning for Australians to vote yes to marriage equality. I certainly will be voting yes.

I will be voting yes because lesbian and gay Australians are equal and should have equal rights under our law. But that does not mean for one second that we endorse this $122 million postal survey as legitimate. The use of a plebiscite to change our laws would have undermined our democracy in which the Australian people elect representatives to make laws in this parliament. But this ridiculous postal survey is a perversion of our democracy. It's something that has been foisted upon us, foisted upon Australians and foisted upon the LGBTI community. The Liberals claim this hopelessly flawed survey will resolve this matter once and for all. Garbage! The elected members of this parliament decide the laws of this nation under our Constitution.

We could be voting on marriage equality next week if the government had not become lost in a maze of its own making. Whatever happens with this hopeless process from a hopeless and incompetent government, the Australian people will get their chance less than two years from now to elect to this place representatives who actually do represent their views and who are willing to do the work they have been elected to do.

That is not just in relation to marriage equality. Policies across the board from power prices and jobs to health and education have all been trashed by this government of incompetence and chaos. But, if this reckless, wasteful survey is not struck down by the High Court, we must make sure we don't let the 'no' side win. So I urge all Australians: if you're not on the electoral roll or if your address details are not up to date, act now. Now is the time to mobilise and unite.

This entire rigged exercise is designed to divide Australia and to encourage hateful words and arguments in order for the 'no' case to win. We can make sure that does not happen by spreading a message of love and togetherness, but it will not be enough for people who are already passionate yes voters just to vote. We have to get out and talk to those people who are supporters but may not be passionate enough to send their vote in. We have to talk to undecided voters. If you are young and passionate, please go out and talk to your friends, to your parents and to your grandparents. This is a totally different vote to the kind that Australians are used to. It is voluntary, not compulsory, and it may be won by the side which can convince the most people to vote. It will require all our energy and it deserves it. This $122 million opinion poll is a truly terrible idea, but, if it goes ahead, we must be ready to win. We must be ready to fight for yes.

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