Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak tonight on the way forward for marriage equality after this week's decision by the Labor Party not to support the proposed plebiscite put forward by the Abbott-Turnbull government. I want to start by making one thing very clear: the proposed plebiscite is not about the LGBTI community. It never was. I have received hundreds of emails from LGBTI Australians this year. Not one has supported it.

LGBTI Australians were not invited to the farcical six-hour coalition party room meeting at the tail end of the Abbott prime ministership that birthed this strange beast. The plebiscite has only ever been about the coalition party room. It stands as a measure of the lengths to which the coalition is willing to go to avoid addressing the issue head on. The coalition is willing to trash conservative principles, waste $200 million and subject the LGBTI community to a humiliating, discriminatory national vote on their status as equal citizens—all because they are too cowardly to do their jobs, too cowardly to look people in the eye and vote according to their principles in the parliament.

We do not need an unprecedented, expensive, divisive and unnecessary plebiscite to make marriage equality happen; we need an act of parliament. Indeed, we have amended the Marriage Act 20 times before without the assistance of a plebiscite. In 2004, when John Howard amended the act, he told this place:

We've decided to insert this into the Marriage Act to make it very plain that .. the definition of a marriage is something that should rest in the hands of the parliament of the nation.

… it is something that ought to be expressed through the elected representatives of the country.

That is us. This is the classical conservative position on the issue. The Abbott-Turnbull plebiscite is a radical departure from the principles of representative democracy that we all came to this parliament to serve.

What makes this issue unique amongst the serious issues considered by the parliament since federation that we did not need a plebiscite on? As former High Court judge Michael Kirby put it succinctly:

We didn't do this for the Aboriginal people when we moved to give equality in law to them ... we didn't do it in advances on women's equality, we didn't do it most recently on disability equality. Why are we now picking out the LGBT, the gay community? It's simply an instance of hate and dislike, hostility to a small minority in our population.

I agree with the courageous position that Senator Dean Smith has outlined, saying that we should hold sacrosanct the parliament as the foremost institution in exercising the democratic functions of this nation.

In a gripping episode of Q&A a few weeks ago Madga Szubanksi captured the central issue in this debate when she asked another coalition senator, Senator Fiona Nash, the simple question at the heart of this issue: 'Do you think I'm equal to you?' Well, I have the same question for the government. Does the government think LGBTI couples should have equal rights? They should not need to find a friend. They came to this parliament on a platform and they can vote on that platform. Labor does believe that LGBTI Australians are equal. The Australian people believe that LGBTI Australians are equal, and they want the law to reflect this now, not after a divisive, expensive, unnecessary plebiscite.

People who care about marriage equality care about equal treatment. Using a discriminatory mechanism to deliver equality defeats the point. The Prime Minister used to understand this. He argued for a free vote in this parliament before he became the leader. Unfortunately, he seems to have had a road to Damascus conversion. Unfortunately, today he is a born again Christiansen. The Prime Minister and Attorney-General have been running a line in the media that somehow Labor is to blame for the current situation and for the lack of ability of the parliament to deal with this issue. I say to the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General, do not lecture us about how to deliver marriage equality. Do not lecture the LGBTI community about how to deliver social change in this nation. They have learnt more about it than you will ever know. Save the talk for the recalcitrants in the coalition party room. Ask them why they do not believe LGBTI Australians are equal. Ask them why they do not have the guts to tell them that to their face in this parliament.

Prime Minister, show some leadership. Come back into this place and let parliamentarians do the job that we were elected to do. Just get on with it. Together we can resolve this issue. There is nothing special about it. My constituents want this dealt with. We can deal with it very promptly. All it takes is some leadership in the top office of this land.