Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand to congratulate the people of Ireland on the decision they made a few days ago to grant LGBTI Irish citizens equal right to marriage. Ireland is one of the most religious countries in the world, but in doing this they have also shown themselves to be amongst the most open and the most loving. I feel I can confidently say that all of us in the chamber have friends or family who are in the LGBTI community. Certainly, we all represent thousands of people around the country who identify as LGBTI. It is time that the Australian law properly reflected the equality that we feel towards people who are LGBTI.

In Australia, we abhor discrimination and at times we have led the world in the fight against it, and I am so proud of that history. But sometimes, one of the biggest challenges in coming up against discrimination is identifying it and calling it out. Unequal marriage discriminates against LGBTI Australians. It says they are separate and they are different, and I stand today to say that that does not reflect my views, and it does not reflect the view of the majority of Australians. There are people who hold different views—some in this chamber—on the basis of their religion, and I respect those views. But I do not believe that you should get to say, because you hold those views, that our laws discriminate against thousands of people who live in our country. That is just not how good laws are made. The tide has turned. Ireland has moved, and I urge this parliament to build on this momentum and make marriage equal.