Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That was doublespeak and the government is in the business of discriminating against same-sex couples in the area of marriage, and members on the government benches might sigh or sob about that but the fact is it is discriminatory. The Rudd government is moving now to override provisions by the Australian Capital Territory legislature to provide some degree of equality. That is discrimination, it is bigotry and it is against what the majority of people not only in the ACT but in Australia want. It is a manifest extension of the Howard years by this Labor government—and you should hang your heads in shame at your bigotry and discrimination in that area. I will continue with my colleagues, including Senator Hanson-Young, to argue this with this Labor government while ever it continues to purvey the Howard government discriminatory philosophy in this place.