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

Might I remind you, Senator Rice, that the Liberal Party is very proud of its history as a law reformer in this area, including, by the way, making the first attempt at law reform in relation to the rights of gay people in Australian history—in the South Australian parliament, by Mr Murray Hill, the father of our former colleague Senator Robert Hill. The first attempt in this parliament to protect the rights of gay people was introduced by a former Liberal Prime Minister, Sir John Gorton, into the House of Representatives in the 1970s. So we are very proud of what we do. But, being Liberals, we also respect the fact that this is an area in which different people will have different views, and we can—and I do—both stand up for the rights of gay people and also stand up for the rights of others to express a view that I myself find personally distressing.