Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, 50.9 per cent of the constituents in my electorate voted no to the question the government put in the postal survey on marriage. I want to say to the constituents of Mitchell that I'll be voting to respect the national outcome but also the majority of the people in Mitchell who voted no. I will not be opposing the passage of this bill, the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, but instead will be seeking amendments—moving an amendment myself, and joining with colleagues to support other amendments—to secure what I regard as vital freedoms for religion, conscience and thought in Australia. It's true that Australia voted yes. But the views of the people of the electorate of Mitchell should not be ignored, and the views of people in Western Sydney also should not be ignored. As someone who was raised in Western Sydney and lived most of my life there, it's sad to me that the views of significant parts of Western Sydney are being completely unrepresented by their Labor Party representatives.

I want to step the House through some of the statistics that highlight and underscore this, because Western Sydney emphatically voted no in the postal marriage survey. You can start in my electorate, with just 51 per cent voting no, but if you go to Greenway, 53.6 per cent voted no, and to Parramatta, 61 per cent voted no. You can go to Fowler, where 63.7 per cent voted no, and 63.7 per cent in Werriwa, 64 per cent in McMahon and 69 per cent in Watson, getting to 73 per cent of people in Blaxland voting no. I was always a 'no' campaigner and advocate. I believe in a traditional view of marriage, and not because I think the state should deny same-sex couples the ability to form unions that are equivalent to marriage. Absolutely we should allow and provide for that, and now we will in this bill. But I was a 'no' advocate because I believe in the traditional view of marriage. It's a view obviously held by almost three-quarters of people in Western Sydney. Yet there is not one 'no' advocate or campaigner among the Labor members of parliament coming from Western Sydney, and they're unrepresented in—

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