Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 that's before us. I actually voted no in the question that was asked in the postal survey. I guess I get to that point from my upbringing, from the community I live in, from the people around me and from my strong belief that marriage between a man and a woman has held Western civilisation in good stead for a long time. But, I've got to say, in the 10 years since I've got into this job and represented a large part of western New South Wales, my outlook has changed and broadened. I understand that life is not as simple and quite as black and white as some of us might think it could be. I have had conversations and I have built friendships with many same-sex couples right throughout my electorate. I have great respect for them and I have a great respect for the struggle that they've had over the years.

I have said that I would respect the wishes of my electorate and the wishes of the Australian people and so without hesitation I will be voting yes for this legislation. I believe that the clear majority of Australians support this change. The majority of my electorate support this change, even though the majority is not as high as in the rest of Australia. There's a large number, probably 40,000 or 45,000 people, in my electorate who voted no and so, with respect for their concerns, I will be looking at the amendments as they come through in the final stages of this bill and looking at the need to support religious freedoms, educational freedoms and the right of parents against discrimination. But, regardless of where that leads to, I'll be supporting a bill that represents the question that was asked of the Australian people. I think the idea of giving Mr Ruddock the imprimatur to look at issues that might arise is quite a good one. But the Australian people were asked a question and they delivered an answer. I will vote to reflect the answer they gave, and I will be supporting this bill.

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