Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am so proud to be standing here today to debate the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2013, and proud to be a member of a loving same-sex couple who was legally married in Australia. Voting for marriage equality is well overdue. We need to achieve a vote on marriage equality to achieve equality and to stop discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

My marriage to Penny is so central to my life. I cannot imagine life without her, and I am so proud of being a legally married same-sex couple in Australia. We became that in 2003, 13 years ago, when Penny transitioned to Penny and became female, and suddenly our life changed. Suddenly we went from being a normal heterosexual couple to a same-sex couple. Then, in 2004, the change to the Marriage Act, introduced by John Howard, meant that our marriage was no longer a legal marriage in Australia—that is, if Penny's recognition as a female was changed on her birth certificate.

In 2004, with the change to the Marriage Act, we were placed in the position that, if we wanted to stay married, Penny would not be able to change her gender on her birth certificate. So we entered this netherworld of discrimination. Penny absolutely wanted to change her gender on her birth certificate but we absolutely did not want to get divorced. So we have chosen to stay married and in this netherworld—a world which has been there for far too long. We need to be acting on this. We have been debating marriage equality in this place and in the other place for far too long. Since 2004, when the Marriage Act was changed, the debate has continued.

Penny and I have been lucky. We have been very lucky. Everybody should have the opportunity to marry the person that they love, but, right now, same-sex couples in Australia do not have that opportunity. I spent some time on the weekend at the ChillOut Festival in Daylesford, surrounded by friends, surrounded by lots of people celebrating their life as LGBTIQ people. There was my friend Sean, who is engaged to his partner and who would dearly, dearly like to be married. He cannot be married. There was Rachel, the person I travelled in the car with; similarly, she is in a same-sex relationship with her partner. I do not know whether Rachel wants to get married, but she wants to have that choice. There were the two women that I danced with who were dressed as brides. They said it was lovely to be there in this celebration at ChillOut, to be able to be celebrating. They said it was almost like a wedding—almost. But there is the sadness that they are not able get married.

We have fallen behind the rest of the world. Twenty-one other countries now have marriage equality. Australia is the only developed English-speaking country where loving couples are discriminated against simply because of their gender. Not only has the time for marriage equality come in Australia, but it is so long overdue. For the couples who are being denied the right to marry, it breaks my heart. Now is the time. It falls to us. We have the opportunity to change that. We have the opportunity to change the law. We have the opportunity to vote and change the law today. It was in 2004, after the change to the Marriage Act, that the first bill to legalise equal marriage was introduced into the parliament by the Greens' first member of the House of Representatives, Michael Organ. In 2007 former Senator Kerry Nettle introduced a bill; in 2008 Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett introduced a bill, and Sarah Hanson-Young's bill, the bill that we are debating today, was introduced in 2009.

This is going to continue until we vote to legalise same-sex marriage, because this is the last state sanctioned discrimination against same-sex attracted and transgendered people, and it is the most important state sanctioned discrimination that still exists. Now in 2016, after 17 bills in the parliament—17 bills since 2004—and after countless hours of debate we can take a crucial step on the path to equal love right now. We are now debating Sarah Hanson-Young's bill, but we have had enough talk. Let's bring on the vote. It is long past time. If we ring the bells now we can be hearing wedding bells in no time. We do not need extra time for debate. The Labor Party was confident that the numbers were there earlier this week, so let's get this long overdue reform through the Senate and get it through today. We need a vote this morning. Labor, it seems, want to vote to keep on talking. We want to vote to change the law.

If Labor's position on same-sex marriage were motivated by a genuine desire to win the vote, not to sabotage Senate voting reform, then there is no reason why we cannot just vote on the bill this morning, without delay. We are ready to vote. We are ready to vote 'yes'. But we are not going to be bullied on unrelated pieces of legislation. We have got time this morning to vote and we can do it, so I am calling on Labor. Labor are saying that they are committed to equal marriage. Labor are saying they want to have a vote on equal marriage, so I am calling on Labor to allow it. Labor, we can do it this morning. There are people's lives that are dependent on this. There is Penny's and my life, there are other people in this parliament's lives, there are the lives of the people that I have talked about this morning.

I am calling on Labor to support this bill going to a vote this morning. If Labor do not support this, maybe it is because they are not confident of getting the outcome, and they are not confident in their numbers. If Labor do not support bringing on a vote this morning then maybe it is just a cynical exploitation of an issue that means so much to so many. And if Labor does not allow a vote today then they are going to be responsible for missing an historic opportunity to vote on this issue. We are ready to bring on a vote today, and we can guarantee with a vote today that every one of our MPs will vote unanimously for marriage equality, because we have done that—every vote, every MP, every time. Every time there has been opportunity to vote on marriage equality the Greens have done it—17 bills in this parliament. We will continue to vote for marriage equality because it is so important for ending discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

We want to see marriage equality. We need to see marriage equality. Now is the time. We can vote on this today, and I call on all people in this place today to be voting for marriage equality, to be voting for love, to be voting for those wedding bells to be ringing as soon as possible.