Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Hastie, you yourself would be fascinated by the sudden outbreak of conscience thinking in the armed forces. As far as I'm concerned, the armed forces are an apparatus of the state. The state has agreed to a broadened definition of marriage. If you're a seconded religious chaplain from the church, the exemption exists for you. But, if you're not, then you're part of the state's apparatus—that is, the armed forces—and you follow a chain of command. This is a matter for the Chief of the Defence Force. If they are marrying, they are receiving a state salary and they adhere to the laws of the land.

I'm not in favour of these exemptions trickling through the armed forces. You would know very well, Mr Deputy Speaker, as I do, that I did not go to Afghanistan with body armour, a pay packet and the will of the Australian people. I went as a volunteer, but I knew when I got there that there's not a lot of conscience thinking when you are serving in the armed forces. If you're a chaplain you have the possibility of religious exemptions, if you are on secondment from a church. If you're taking a state salary, you're representing a nation that allows marriage in all these forms between two adults, and that's what you shall do as part of your service, otherwise you can leave the military.

An incident having occurred in the gallery—

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