Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the exercise of open democracy that all those who have participated in today, men and women, have taken up to provide their views both in demonstration and through the form of a petition. The parliament and the government will, of course, give appropriate consideration to the March 4 Justice petition.

The process of parliament and of being a minister means that we meet with hundreds of people every year in the parliament. It's the responsibility of any elected government to form positions on those important issues by working through those carefully as a government and through the parliament. It is what we are elected to do. It's our responsibility to listen to the concerns of all Australians. Both the Prime Minister and I have sought to do that with organisers of today's protest directly and to hear from them directly in a number of ways. I do take those concerns very seriously, as do my coalition colleagues. The Prime Minister's offer of that meeting with organisers still stands.