Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great pleasure to rise to speak on this historic legislation today. The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 aims to deliver what we know a majority of Australians want, and that is equality for every Australian. Before speaking today, I was thinking about my own childhood. As a young person growing up, one of the fascinations I had was reading and learning about the civil rights struggle, in America particularly, in the 1960s—something that was reflected here in the battles for the rights of Indigenous people in our own country. I was really fascinated to think of a time before I was born when people in the United States, in Australia and in many other countries around the world were treated poorly and were actively discriminated against on the basis of their race. We know that that continues to go on, and that is something that remains to be addressed. As a young person growing up in Brisbane, I just could not comprehend a world in which people were so actively discriminated against on the basis of their race. I remember taking pleasure in the fact that at least the country that I grew up in, at that point in time, was not quite so bigoted. Unfortunately, what this debate and the battle over the last few years has highlighted is that there are many quarters in Australian society where discrimination does occur against people and that we still have so much more to do. I never expected when I was young to be participating in a debate about legislation designed to knock over overt discrimination, which is something that continues to occur each and every day to LGBTI Australians. I cannot say how pleased I am to have even a very small role in trying to eliminate this discrimination once and for all.

Despite the discrimination of the past and present, today is a great day when we take another step towards addressing inequality, particularly on ground of sexuality. I have been a long-time supporter of marriage equality. As a member of the Queensland state parliament, I supported the establishment of civil unions in Queensland in 2011. Six years later, although I am disappointed that it has taken so long for us to get here, I'm really proud to be able to be supporting this bill here today. The time for delay is over. The time for marriage equality is right now.

I will address the process that has led us here today. It is unfortunate that we have had to undertake this lengthy and delayed process, particularly the Turnbull government's divisive, expensive and unnecessary postal survey. No-one wants to look back too much, and today is a positive day when we are concentrating on moving forward, but it is important to set the record straight about how we got here. When the government first proposed the plebiscite my Labor colleagues and I stood with the LGBTI community and said that we didn't want a divisive, expensive opinion poll to tell the government what they should have already known, and that is that every Australian should be equal. That is something that all of us elected to this chamber should have within our fibre and our bones but, unfortunately, that is not the case. We on this side of the chamber argued that a plebiscite—any plebiscite—was not the right way to do the right thing. We argued that it would be hurtful and harmful to vulnerable Australians, and I have to say we were right. Despite the overwhelming yes victory, we can never undo the damage the postal survey has done. I remember conversations that I've had over the last few weeks with mental health services on the Gold Coast, where my office is based, and they were reporting, as so many other mental health services across Australia have reported, increased demand for their services, particularly from younger gay and lesbian people. That damage will take a very long time to undo.

Let's be very clear about one thing. Instead of just having parliament do its job, Prime Minister Turnbull and Senator Brandis said to Australia that they would rather waste $122 million and put lives at risk than have a debate and a discussion about equality that would expose the deep divisions that exist within their own party room. The government said to all Australians, especially LGBTI Australians: 'You must endure a two-month campaign about whether the love that you have, your family has or your son or daughter has for their partner is equal.' The government would have you believe that the participation rates and the yes result vindicate the postal survey. They do not. I sat next to volunteers from the yes campaign as they were making calls to other Australians to ask them to vote on their own equality, so I can tell you what they were feeling and what the turn-out numbers really mean. I will never forget the faces of those volunteers as I sat around the table calling potential voters, call after call. On some occasions they would be overjoyed by the reaction they got from someone who intended to vote yes, but I will never forget the look of rejection and shame that they felt every time they struck a voter who was intending to vote no, against their own equality and against their own worth as an individual. That is something that no Australian should ever have had to be put through. The participation rates in this survey are a testament to the brave work of those volunteers. They are not a vote of confidence in the Turnbull government's actions to get here today. Australians voted for equality not because of this government but despite this government, and they will never forget who forced them to go down this humiliating path.

I don't want to dwell overly on the negative aspects of this debate, because this is a very important reform that we should be celebrating. But I do also just want to address the issue of proposed amendments or the prospect of any procedures in this place being used to delay the passage of this bill. Prime Minister Turnbull promised respectful debate during this postal survey, and we know that that didn't occur. Senators in this chamber have called for a respectful debate during the passage of this legislation, and I agree with them, but the most disrespectful thing that the government or any senator in this place can do, now that Australians have voted so overwhelmingly to support equality, is to use this bill as another opportunity to create new forms of discrimination and to attempt to delay the passage of this legislation in any way. That is not what Australians want, and it is time that we listened.

We know now that a majority of Australians emphatically support marriage equality. I am extremely proud to say that my home state of Queensland voted overwhelmingly in support of a yes result, with more than 60 per cent of Queenslanders doing so. Unfortunately, Queensland has had a difficult history when it comes to recognising the rights of our LGBTI community, and that is why this outcome is particularly remarkable and signifies a significant shift in Queensland's history. It was interesting last night, being at the celebration in Lonsdale Street in Braddon, the number of people I ran into who, yet again, wanted to wheel out the old stereotypes of Queensland. I'm sure, Senator Smith, that's probably happened to you in relation to Western Australia as well. Unfortunately, many of our southern comrades have yet to learn that the frontier states of Queensland and Western Australia have changed and voted strongly in favour of the yes case. One of these days people will understand that they are not the places they used to be.

But the truth is that some of these stereotypes do linger, particularly because of the actions of the Bjelke-Petersen government back in the seventies and eighties in my home state. That was a really dark time for transparency, accountability and civil rights in Queensland. No-one knows that more than our LGBTI community in Queensland. Their treatment was absolutely horrendous and it will leave a black cloud over Queensland for many years to come. It's so pleasing that the Queensland Labor government has taken steps in the past few years to right these wrongs and to reverse discrimination that is still embedded in many Queensland laws. After being elected in 2015 the Palaszczuk Labor government reinstated civil unions, which had been removed by the Newman government, legislated to enable same-sex couples to adopt in Queensland, restored funding to LGBTI advocacy groups and equalled the age of consent—something that the government that I was a part of only a few years before had thought was just too difficult politically. Finally, only a few months ago the Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on behalf of the Queensland parliament, made a formal apology to people charged under historical antihomosexuality laws and introduced an expungement scheme, something that we've seen across many states of Australia. That's what equality looks like: dismantling discrimination and righting wrongs.

Now, from Coolangatta to Capricornia and all the way up to Cape York, Queenslanders have sent a clear message: they don't want to go back to the dark days where businesses could refuse service to people based on their race, sex or religion; they want to move forward and give equality to all Australians, and any party who is not ready to move on with them will be left behind. This is particularly the case on the Gold Coast, where in every federal electorate over 60 per cent of people have voted for marriage equality. This is an overwhelming result and shows that the Gold Coast as a whole supports equality, fairness and love for all. Queensland is a big state with a big heart. We welcome every gay and lesbian couple from all around Australia who wants to come to our state for their weddings and their honeymoons. Our tourist industry on the Gold Coast, in Cairns and everywhere in between is ready to celebrate with you.

Before I wrap up, I want to pay tribute to the members of Rainbow Labor Queensland and the many LGBTIQ activists in Queensland. Not only over recent months but over many years you fought hard and you never gave up. I want to make a special mention of my mate, LGBTI elder Phil Carswell. Phil is an Order of Australia honouree for his work fighting the HIV epidemic back in the 1980s. He played a crucial role in supporting the establishment of the Queensland AIDS Council. Phil started dialysis earlier this month. His health isn't the best these days. He married his partner in New York a few years ago, because he got sick of waiting for all of us to do the right thing. All he wanted was for marriage equality to pass before it was too late for him. Phil, we're almost there. Thank you to you and your community. Phil, I haven't forgotten the many conversations we've had over the years where you've reminded me that marriage equality isn't the end of the road for true equality for LGBTI people. There are still so many other issues, whether we're talking about health, employment status or the many other things where we still have room to move.

I also want to take a moment to thank those members of this chamber who've contributed to the drafting and introduction of this bill. To Senator Smith, Senator Rice and members of every political party who've supported this bill, I thank you on behalf of Queenslanders. You've demonstrated to this country what can be achieved when we work together to deliver important reform. Just today, while I was grabbing a coffee, I was talking to someone who noted the fact that this is a reform that really has been driven by the grassroots—by ordinary Australian people speaking up for what they want. I think that's a model that we can take on board for the future as we try to address other important reforms. I especially pay tribute to my friends and colleagues Senator Wong and Senator Pratt, who have led the way for Labor in this fight for equality in this chamber. I can't imagine what your families have had to endure during this time. You are both brave, incredible women and Australia is richer and better because of your leadership.

There's one other brave, incredible woman who I want to thank, and that's my chief of staff, Nita Green. Nita is a fabulous person who I first met several years ago on a federal election campaign. As I often tell her, the thing that grabbed my attention was that twinkle in her eye as she sat down and campaigned incredibly hard on these issues and many other issues back in that campaign, where we got absolutely demolished, in 2013. From that day forward, it's been absolutely fantastic watching Nita's growth as a person and as a campaigner. There has been no greater time that she has demonstrated those qualities than over the last few weeks, when she took leave from my office to be the field director of the equality campaign in Queensland. She can take a lot of credit for that incredible result in Queensland. Congratulations to you, Nita. You're an inspiration to me and many other people each and every day.

I support marriage equality because love is about two people and those two people only. Marriage is about love. Families should be about love—and that is it, plain and simple. I love my family. There's nothing better than our Christmas mornings together, our Saturdays spent at the soccer field or our trips to the beach. For too long in this country, a part of our community has been denied the right to call their families and their relationships equal to mine, and that is not good enough. If we pass this legislation, it will have a profound effect on those Australians who have always felt devalued because of their sexuality. If we pass this legislation, it will have a profound effect on our country. Finally, LGBTI Australians will become full members of our community, but, more importantly, there will be a generation of young Australians who will grow up feeling free to be completely themselves and to love whoever they want.

Sadly, inequality does remain in Australia on many fronts. There are still too many LGBTI Australians suffering discrimination. Our Indigenous brothers and sisters suffer on a whole range of fronts. Rural and remote Australians suffer worse health outcomes and, if you come from a poor family, your life chances are still likely to be poorer. But today is a great step forward for equality. One of the many photos that were circulated as the celebrations ensued yesterday was a photo of a number of Labor senators celebrating this as the news came out. I was looking at that photo and at the centre of it, as she rightly should have been, was Senator Wong breaking down in tears, as she did in many photos that day. I looked at the photo and at who was around her. We had a gay, Asian woman, a gay Caucasian woman, Senator Pratt, an Aboriginal elder, Senator Dodson, a mischievous young Iranian migrant, Senator Dastyari, and lots of straight, white Aussies standing around celebrating. I thought to myself: that's Australia. That's modern Australia and this bill reflects modern Australia.

Australia is a fair and tolerant country. We take care of each other and we stand up for what's right. It's time this parliament delivers this important reform and rights this wrong. No more delays—it's time for celebration; it's time for equality. Let's get this done.