Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The question of same-sex marriage turned out to be a very simple one for me a few years ago, thanks to my two children. I asked myself, 'If one of them falls in love with someone of the same sex and they want to be together for the rest of their life, why shouldn't they have the choice to show their love and commitment by getting married?' The answer is clearly that, as a mother, I do not want to see discrimination against either of my children, so this has not been a difficult debate for me. I have not agonised, and I have not been swayed by counterarguments. My electorate has known my views since 2010. I can't wait to vote yes to marriage equality.

But I'm not sure that it would have been such an easy question for me and my generation 30 or 40 years ago. In 1978, Jan Forrester, who now lives in the upper Blue Mountains in my electorate of Macquarie, participated in the first Sydney Mardi Gras parade. New South Wales police violently broke up the march, arresting 53 people. And in fact my husband, who joins us in the chamber today, recalls, a few days later, being part of another group protesting the arrests and fleeing from police in Taylor Square, in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald, of course, published the names of those arrested in that first Mardi Gras, effectively outing them, resulting in many losing employment and being ostracised by their family and their friends.

It was a different time. And I'm sorry that it has taken us as a nation so long to move away from that time and that so much harm has been done to so many people along the way. Many are not here to see how far we have come, and this parliament should be sorry for that.

Today, however, I am proud. I'm proud to vote for the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 for Craig and Mark, of Lawson, who are looking forward to getting married and having their relationship of 20 years recognised under Australian law. I'm proud to vote for this bill for Tony and Kenn, of Wentworth Falls, who've shared each other's lives for 23 years. When Kenn needed a kidney transplant, Tony was the donor. And there's nowhere else in the world they'd rather be getting married than here in Australia. I'm proud to vote for this bill for Hawkesbury resident David Briggs, who was told by the previous local member that if he wanted to marry a man he should move to England; for Kelly and Birgitta and their young son; for Tim and Matt, of Blackheath, who have been together for 11 years; for Andrew and Colin; and for Kirrily and Wenone, from Leura, who travelled to New Zealand to marry and for whom the phrase 'wife and wife' means so much. For them, I'm proud. For PFLAG, for rainbow families, I am proud. For Jack, who has put his heart and soul into this campaign for the electorate of Macquarie and is part of my team, I'm really proud.

63.9 per cent of my community voted yes. It voted yes to love. It voted yes to equality. It voted yes to inclusion. It voted yes to ensuring that every member of our community, whether they be gay or straight, has the right to marry. People did not, however, vote to wind back discrimination legislation. They did not vote to provide wide-reaching exemptions to the right to marry. They voted for love, and I intend to respect and uphold that decision.

Religious freedom is important, but nothing about this bill threatens the religious beliefs of those in my community. This bill merely extends fundamental legal protections afforded only by marriage to same-sex couples and their families. It seeks to afford these relationships the same status under the law that my husband and I share, that my straight friends share. This bill removes state-sanctioned discrimination, but, most of all, this bill is about fairness. It's about equality. It is about equity.

We didn't need a plebiscite or a survey that has hurt a lot of people in my community. I am still aghast that those opposite could shirk their responsibility as members of parliament under our Westminster system and outsource their decision to a mass survey. This parliament claims to be concerned about mental health, and I'm right to be worried about the mental health impacts caused to the LGBTIQ community, particularly among young people. But we had it, we won it and now we're here.

I want to recognise the young people within my electorate. We had over 800 people under 25 enrol to vote or update their details in the postal survey, and 18- to 19-year-olds in Macquarie made their voices heard at a rate significantly higher than many of those older than them. They turned out to street stalls, they called for equality, they got to train stations at 5 am to hand out flyers and get out the 'yes' vote. Young people have been galvanised by this issue like no other, and I'm incredibly proud of how hard they fought for this change.

In particular I want to recognise the LGBTIQ young people of my electorate. To them I say: I know you've been hurting a lot recently and I know how hard this postal survey has been and some of the hatred that has come from it. I've stood with you as you explained what marriage equality means to you to people who were not really interested in opening their hearts to you. Please know that your community respects you for who you are and for who you love. Know that so many of your teachers, your peers, your families and your representatives love and care for you and think that you should be entitled to every happiness that heterosexuals are entitled to.

To the army of volunteers, especially those in the Hawkesbury: thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and talking to your friends, neighbours and total strangers to get the 'yes' vote out. It was an honour to work with you. Thank you to the leadership of local LGBTIQ support group Pink Mountains, who have made the mountains an inclusive home for the LGBTIQ people. Peter Hackney, Kevin Hardwick, Tiphanee Athans, Kylie Watson—there were many others involved. I want to thank Malcolm McPherson, Katoomba local and New South Wales Co-Convenor of Australian Marriage Equality, who's been a leader of this campaign since 2005 and has come to Canberra to witness this historic event. I thank Audrey Marsh, originally from Blackheath, who was one of the state organisers of the campaign. Thank you to Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains councils, who both flew the rainbow flag. Your efforts are finally rewarded.

Finally this place can do its job and vote for marriage equality, and then I look forward to the weddings where Australians in love get to bring this legislation to life.

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