Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I do not agree with the characterisation of the Australian marriage law survey conducted by the ABS that Senator Rice has put forward. Secondly, it was the government's preference to give every eligible Australian a say through a compulsory personal attendance plebiscite, but the Senate did not agree with that course of action, so we have chosen an alternative course. The reason we've chosen that course is that we believe that there are good people in the community across Australia who have a diversity of sincerely and strongly held views on both sides of the argument. We believe that the best way and the fairest way for this issue to be settled on a more permanent basis, and to facilitate a consensus across the community, is to give every Australian the opportunity to have a say and that is precisely what we're doing.