Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise, Senator Santoro, if I am becoming a little passionate about this issue that, when I opened it up, I thought was as dull as dishwater and most unnecessary. I suddenly realised there is a lot of inconsistency, if not hypocrisy, in this particular issue. Why didn’t Senator Brown mention the gay rights debate and the vote we had in this parliament, where the Labor Party government and Prime Minister Hawke overrode the laws of the state of Tasmania with regard to gay rights? I will tell you why: because it suited him not to, and that is what this debate is all about. The other side know that this parliament or the executive government has the right to override the states on certain issues, as it does the territories—more so the territories, of course.