Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017.

I'm very proud to report that in the recent marriage equality survey 81 per cent of people in Kingsford Smith participated, and 64.1 per cent voted yes in favour of marriage equality; that is above the national average. I'm honoured to be here today to represent our community's voice on this very important issue, and to cast my vote in favour of marriage equality. It's an uplifting way for this parliament to finish the year and I'm very proud to represent our community's voice on this issue.

I have been a long-time supporter of marriage equality. I voted for marriage equality in 2012 when I was a senator when that bill was brought on in the Senate. But, like many, I wasn't always a supporter of this issue. My views changed in the late 1990s when my brother, Chris, told me and our family that he was gay. That changed my view on everything. I saw this issue, and many other issues for the LGBTI community, in a different way, through a different lens. I began to see the discrimination that existed in many parts of our society towards gay and lesbian people. I began to see that this issue was a breach of human rights. I began to see the misery and unhappiness that was being perpetrated upon LGBTI people in our community by the nature of our laws, and by the way our culture and society worked at that time. And I saw the effects that that had on people's physical and mental wellbeing. And I couldn't understand how denying the right of two people who love each other and the expression of that love through marriage could prevail in Australia. I saw the effect that that was having on our fellow Australians.

So I changed my view in the late 1990s about this issue and became a supporter of marriage equality. But at the time I was well aware that I was still in the minority in terms of Australia's views. But the great thing has been watching the shift in the views of Australians over the course of the last decade and the feelings and sentiments and the changes in those feelings and sentiments towards gay and lesbian Australians, and the advances that we have made as a society. I was very proud when the previous Labor government, the Gillard government, removed about 80 pieces of discrimination in various Australian laws, led by the Attorney-General at the time, Robert McClelland, to remove discriminatory parts of our laws related to superannuation, taxation and health.

It's been pleasing to see the cultural and social change in Australia around this issue. If you look at the gay mardi gras that occurs in Sydney every year, when those who were first involved in that mardi gras participated in it, they were arrested by the police. Their names were published in TheSydney Morning Herald and great shame and burden was brought upon those people by those actions. But the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is now one of Sydney's greatest events. It's a highlight on the Sydney event calendar, a great tourism boon and an economic powerhouse for Sydney and this nation over the course of that week.

Australia has changed for the better over the course of the last decade on this issue. It's now time that the Australian parliament caught up with the Australian public and the rest of Australia and also changed for the better. It's time to eliminate one of the final pieces of discrimination that exist in our laws—the right of gay and lesbian people to express their commitment and love for one another through the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is the pinnacle expression of love in our society and in our laws, and it has been denied to so many because of how they were born and because of their sexuality. At its very heart it is discrimination. It is unfair. It pervades a feeling that people don't belong. It creates distress, shame and guilt. The Australian people now want to change this. They want to remove the discrimination, the hurt and the suffering. They want to let LGBTI people know that they belong. You are a part of our society and you deserve the right, like every other Australian, to express your love for one another through the sacrament and the law of marriage. The Australian people want you to live happier lives. We're saying to the gay community that you have the right to express your love through marriage, like every other Australian, and it's incumbent upon this parliament to deliver that change. I'm firmly of the belief that we will do this over the course of the next 24 hours. In six months time, in a year's time, in two years time, we will look back and think, 'God, what was all the hassle and fuss about?'

To those in the Kingsford Smith community who voted no, I respect your decision. There are many reasons why people hold views and have voted no in this survey. I've had many conversations with people in our community about those reasons. I've replied to all of the letters and emails I've received on this issue. I have been respectful and pointed out the reasons why I have been a long-term supporter of marriage equality, why I will vote for equality and why I voted for it in the past in the parliament.

Many of those who contacted me told me they were voting no on the basis of their faith and religious beliefs. I want to say to those people that I support the notion of freedom of religion—it's enshrined in our Constitution, in section 116—and I support the right of churches to refuse to solemnise a same-sex marriage. But to those who are concerned about this issue I say that this bill provides the necessary and adequate protection for those religious freedoms. In fact, it is very clearly pointed out on the first page of this bill, which states:

It is an object of this Act to create a legal framework:

…   …   …

(c) to allow equal access to marriage while protecting religious freedom in relation to marriage.

It can't be any clearer in those words, and the details contained later in the bill provide that protection for religious freedom. It couldn't be any clearer, and this bill comprehensively protects religious freedom. On that basis, there is no need to amend it further. There is no need for this parliament to amend what is proposed here today, and the amendment moved by the member for Warringah should not proceed on that basis.

In conclusion, I thank the LGBTIQ community of Kingsford Smith for the dignity, the strength and the courage that you've shown throughout the period of this survey and particularly those who've been campaigning on this issue for decades. In the lead-up to the issue of the plebiscite coming before the parliament, I sat down with members of the Kingsford Smith LGBTI community and I said to them, 'What do you want me to do in terms of my vote in the parliament on the issue of a plebiscite?' They were very clear. They didn't want the plebiscite to go ahead, because of the hurt and the fact that the rights of Australians were going to be determined by a public vote. That was new ground for this country. I respected that view, and I said that I would vote against a plebiscite in this parliament. I stand by that view and I think it was the right view to hold. I thank those who had the courage and conviction to contact me and to point out their views on this issue.

I particularly thank those who've been campaigning on this issue for decades: those that faced persecution, those that lost their jobs because of their personal views on this issue. Your courage and your conviction have been vindicated. And I want to give a special mention to Alan, who is in the gallery today and has travelled all the way from Maroubra to be here to see this historic vote. Alan, thank you so much for the work that you've done in our community on this issue. I hope you get to enjoy the Australian parliament voting in favour of marriage equality over the course of the next 24 hours. You're a great representative of the views of many in our community.

Finally, I thank the people of Kingsford Smith for the respect that they've shown each other during the course of the debate and, importantly, for voting yes in such overwhelming numbers. It really is why I love representing the community that I grew up in and that I have been a part of for my whole life. I'm very, very proud to express their views and cast my vote in support of marriage equality in this parliament. After that, I know Kingsford Smith and Australia will be a little bit happier. We'll all go into the Christmas break feeling a little bit better about ourselves, and that is a great thing. I'm very, very happy to commend this bill to the House.

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