Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I feel enormously privileged today to have been a voice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Australians in this debate. It has been an enormous privilege to be your agent in this place. We are here at this moment in time because of decades of activism by our community. Without those activists who stood up against terrible adversity and the criminalisation in our laws to fight discrimination and stigma in our community, we would not be here today passing a law that signifies that the status of our relationships is equal to all others.

From that activist movement, there has been a campaign of more than 15,000 volunteers attached to the 'yes' campaign. There have been a million phone calls and 100,000 doors have been knocked on, creating a movement where we've had millions of Australians resoundingly support the right of our relationships to be equally recognised before the law. Our relationships have existed for a long time. Our families have existed for a long time. Our love is true. Our children are cherished. Our families are precious. It is time that we were equal.