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

I rise to speak today on the MPI and the latest example of the extreme right dictating the agenda of the Turnbull government. Not only is the government trying to impose its harebrained plebiscite on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer community but now we have to put up with the 'he said, she said' game about whether the government is going to spend millions of taxpayers' dollars to advertise these well-worn arguments.

Senator Back, in his contribution, made no mention of not only the harm of the plebiscite but adding to the harm of spending millions of dollars to amplify the hatred and the homophobic hate speech that will come from this plebiscite. Many in favour of the plebiscite tell us: 'No, this won't be the case. The plebiscite will be okay. Don't automatically assume the worst.' Let me tell you: we do not automatically assume the worst; we have seen the worst. Sadly, the strong anti-discrimination laws that Senator Back talked of will not protect us and will not protect, particularly, young LGBTIQ people struggling with their sexuality and their gender identity. It will not protect us from the worst of that hate speech and homophobia.

Politicians are often the target of social media trolls, and, late last week, I was. I want to share this experience with you to give you an example of what we can expect—what will be amplified and what will be broadcast through the megaphone—if this plebiscite goes ahead. Late last week, a person called Jeff contacted me. Jeff is a troll. I ask you all to not be like Jeff. Jeff said to me, 'How dare you stupid, ugly, ultra-corrupt scum', and accused marriage equality advocates of advocating the creation of a whole new stolen generation. He prefaced a sentence with, 'As much as I hate being rude to a woman', and then launched into some of the most appalling misogynist language imaginable. He finished up, threateningly, by saying:

You and your kind will not be allowed, nor tolerated to brainwash our kids and sexually groom them. We will never forget. Be sure about it.

Jeff, who is friends on Facebook with the Australian Christian Lobby's Lyle Shelton, is not representative of all who oppose marriage equality, but his contribution to social discourse is not isolated either. I have a growing collection of hateful correspondence to my office. On this occasion, Jeff needed to be called out. It would have been very easy to just delete his comments, but he needed to be called out because not only what he was saying was wrong but the community needs to know the sorts of comments that will be given a megaphone in a plebiscite.

So I told Jeff about the many same-sex couples and their children; they are wonderful parents with loved, loving and well-adjusted kids. And the response was overwhelming. Today, I want to share just a few of their comments with you. Liz said: 'So many same-sex couples have children. And while these attitudes make me angry, I worry about the hurt they will cause any of my future kids.' Another person, Real, said:

Gay couples are not asking anything but equal rights, no idea what he is talking about. My children grew up with 3 parents, their mother and me when they were between their birth and pre- school and then they came living with me and my gay partner as their mother was unable at the time to have them…We love our children and they always have frequent contact with their mother, there was never a conflict or disagreement and my children have grown up into balanced and happy adults. All I am saying is when love guides your hearts and actions, there is no problem.

Sarah asked:

And what about the millions of children who have lost 1 or both "natural parents". Sure makes them feel great to be told they should have "natural parents".

And Mathieu said:

THIS is a perfect example of why a plebiscite might be "civil" in—

the Prime Minister's—

eyes and in the Parliament where people's jobs hinge on their choices of words, but in the eyes of any LGBT person or their families, on the level of the talk on the street and social media it will be anything but.

So do not be like Jeff. But also do not encourage Jeff. Encouraging Jeff and the others like him is exactly what a plebiscite would do. Even worse would be to give the people opposed to marriage equality $10 million, on top of the $160 million plus that we have already been spending, to amplify their attacks. For politicians, we are used to it. Some would even say we are paid to cop it. But the others do not need this. A plebiscite would give a megaphone to the haters. And a plebiscite would tell us what we already know—that the vast majority of Australians are ready for marriage equality; they are way past ready.

Parliament should protect the rights of minorities not subject them to a harmful, hateful, non-binding poll. Why would you want to set such a dangerous precedent? The real reason is a sad reflection on this current government. We have a Prime Minister without the courage to stand up to a backbench that is stuck in the past. The plebiscite was a brainwave of the former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, to delay the inevitable and to keep us behind the rest of the world. Some of the most conservative countries in the world have already legalised marriage equality. Quite frankly, it is embarrassing how far we have fallen behind. Australia should not risk being on the wrong side of history when marriage equality becomes the standard across the world.

So what is the way forward?

It is easy. We can enrich the lives of so many Australians through a simple vote in the parliament. We could do it this week. We could hear wedding bells ringing before Christmas. There are a lot of bills floating around parliament at the moment, but the reality is that it will take cooperation from all of us to make this happen.

It was pleasing to hear, in the contribution from Senator Pratt, the Labor Party's opposition to a plebiscite. I urge the Labor Party to completely shut the door and to make the announcement that they will join the Greens and join and some on the crossbench to block this plebiscite legislation when it comes to us in the Senate, because it is so damaging and unnecessary. To the Liberals who will listen, I ask them to put their internal disputes aside and vote with their heart. I ask Prime Minister Turnbull to allow that to occur, because we could end this so quickly. I ask everyone in this chamber and in the other place to listen to the views of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and queer Australians and to consider the survey that was done by the Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays Australia. It surveyed 5,500 LGBTIQ Australians, and overwhelmingly they said they wanted marriage equality, absolutely, and they wanted it as soon as possible, but they did not want to achieve it through a damaging, divisive popular vote.

I think we do need to come together. We can come together. We can bring together the best of us. We can listen to the views of people who are hurting at the moment, who do not have the rights of other Australians and who are suffering because of this largest state sanctioned discrimination, which is being imposed upon LGBTIQ people. We can listen to them, and people can then vote with their heart. We can move forward. We could have a vote in this parliament next week, then this discrimination would end and then Australia would catch up with the rest of the world. Instead, we are stuck in this debate about having a plebiscite that we will know will cause harm, that we know will cause suffering and that we know is not the precedent that we should be setting for the human rights of people.

We are talking about subjecting the human rights of a minority, of LGBTIQ people, to a popular vote. There are no other minorities that we are saying that this should happen to. The rest of us do not have to ask the rest of the country whether we can get married. For the rest of us, it is just accepted. It is how it should be for LGBTIQ people as well, so that together we can support and embrace their rights and really come together, because we know that love is love. We know that they deserve to be able to get married and celebrate their love with the rest of us. Let us work together and put it into law. (Time expired)