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

Thank you very much indeed, Senator Rice. May I say I join you and many other members of this chamber in welcoming—indeed, in rejoicing at—the outcome of the marriage postal survey, which returned a yes vote, a little higher than I had expected, of 61.6 per cent and a participation rate of 79.5 per cent. This, on any view, was an outstanding outcome. I want to once again congratulate Senator Mathias Cormann, who was responsible for the conduct of the marriage postal survey, on an outstanding performance. The result—as somebody who, for years, has been an advocate of the yes case—gladdens me greatly.

Senator Rice, what the parliament will do now is precisely what the Prime Minister and I have promised it will do. It will facilitate the consideration of a private member's bill—in fact, it will be a private senator's bill—to give effect to the strongly-expressed wishes of the Australian people.

This is an important day in Australia's history. It is an important day in the history of human rights in Australia. It is an important day on which we acknowledge and finally strike down this barrier of discrimination against people on the grounds of their sexuality. While respecting, as I do, the conscientious beliefs of those who didn't want to see the definition of marriage changed, I, nevertheless, as I said before, welcome and rejoice in this outcome and I look forward to the passage through this parliament before the end of this year of legislation to give effect to it.