Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will come as no surprise to you that I am opposed to any change in the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act. But that is not a new position. That is what I made clear to the pre-selectors of the Barker FEC college in 2012. It is a position I took to the 2013 election, making it quite clear that if the people of Barker wanted someone to vote in favour of a change to the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act they should vote for someone else, not me.

I took the same position to the recent election in July 2016. Indeed, it was our party policy. Our party policy also was for that decision to be put to the Australian people by way of a plebiscite. So my position has been clear for a very long time, and the position of our party has been clear since a marathon party room meeting some 12 months ago—that is, there will not be a change to the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act unless there is a plebiscite conducted nationally that supports a change.

I am here, this morning, to say to the electors of Barker—and, indeed, the nation—that there is one person standing in the way of change, if change is what you seek. That person is the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten. If you are an elector in Barker or, indeed, if you are an elector anywhere in the nation and you want to effect change—albeit my position is that no change is necessary—then you need to contact the Leader of the Opposition, because what the Leader of the Opposition wants on this is 226 politicians, here in Canberra, to decide this question. I do not want that. What I want is 24 million Australians to determine this question. That is not a novel idea. It is an idea we took to the election. It is an idea on which we have a mandate.

What the Leader of the Opposition wants us to do, effectively, as our first act of government is to break that promise, break that commitment. I am here to say to my constituency: I have been consistent on this. You know I do not support change. If you support change, if change is what you seek, the person preventing you from having your say is the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten. You should contact him and make it clear that you want to have your say.