George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition supports these amendments. In fact, most of the amendments to which Senator Wong has just referred arise from recommendations 1 and 2 in the additional comments by Liberal senators in the October 2008 report into the bill of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, where Liberal senators recommended firstly, by recommendation 1, that the separate status of marriage be preserved and recognised—the government has conceded that point, and I thank them for doing so, though I regret that the issue was ever raised in the first place—and secondly, by recommendation 2, that the bill be amended to remove references to a child as the product of the person’s relationship. Once again, this is a concession by the government to the recommendations of Liberal senators, and we welcome it.

Might I take the opportunity, now that I am on my feet, Temporary Chairman Barnett, to thank and congratulate you—as the deputy chair of that committee, who was the principal inspiration of those recommendations which the government has now seen fit to adopt—on your success.