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

Senator Rice, can I begin by saying that I acknowledge and I accept your good faith on this issue. But I would respectfully remind you, Senator Rice, that if you, your party, and the Australian Labor Party had not combined to block the plebiscite legislation at the end of last year, we would have marriage equality in Australia today. There is no doubt about that whatsoever. I say that as a person who, for some years now, has been a public advocate for marriage equality. We would have had marriage equality today, because under the plebiscite legislation, which you and the Labor Party decided to block, there would have been a plebiscite on 11 February, some five weeks ago. Very few of us in this place have any doubt that the result of that plebiscite would have been a yes vote. I would have introduced into this chamber the marriage equality legislation—an exposure draft of which was produced by the government late last year—within the week or two after that outcome, and it would be through the parliament by now.

Senator Rice, I began my answer to your question by saying that I acknowledge your personal good faith on this issue, but, sadly, I cannot say the same thing of Senator Wong or of the Australian Labor Party, who used to support a plebiscite. They are on record supporting a plebiscite, but they decided to play the politics of this issue. They decided to play with gay people's lives for the sake of trying to cause political division within the government—and, by the way, they failed. Senator Rice, if you worry about a divisive debate then why would you prolong that debate, because, if we had had a plebiscite on 11 February, the debate would be over and done with today.