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

The High Court has settled the matter. You will recall that in 2013 the ACT legislated for same-sex marriage. The Commonwealth took the ACT to the High Court because we took the view at the time that Australia's marriage laws ought to be uniform. We also took the view that the paramountcy of the Commonwealth's marriage power in section 51 of the Constitution needed to be protected. I am pleased to say that the High Court unanimously upheld the Commonwealth's position in that litigation, against the urgings of the then ACT government of the present Senator Gallagher. In the course of that judgement the High Court unanimously said that the federal parliament has legislative power to provide for marriage between persons of the same sex.

Senator Singh, you asked me about a referendum. Under our system, there is only one purpose for a referendum, and that is to amend the Constitution. That is what section 128 of the Constitution provides for. Were this parliament ever minded to legislate for same-sex marriage, the High Court has made it perfectly clear and unanimously clear that the marriage power in the Constitution in its current form would provide sufficient legislative power for a future parliament to do so.