Conservatives to tackle PM on same-sex rights
MALCOLM Turnbull has vowed that religious protections would have no place in parliament as the government weighs up same-sex marriage legislation.
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MALCOLM Turnbull has vowed that religious protections would have no place in parliament as the government faces debate over same-sex marriage legislation.
The Prime Minister said amendments could be passed by any MP in the free vote but cautioned he would not support changing laws to increase discrimination.
Conservative Liberal senator James Paterson’s bill would extend religious protections to allow businesses that provide services to weddings the right to refuse service to gay couples.
“I don’t believe Australians would welcome, and certainly the government would not countenance the making legal discrimination that is unlawful today,” Mr Turnbull said.
“The fact is that assuming there is a Yes vote tomorrow — the pollsters will really be rocked if there isn’t — but assuming there is there will be a private-member’s bill and amendments could be moved and if people want to move an amendment of that kind, well they can.
“I think it would have virtually no prospect of getting through the parliament, but as far as the government is concerned, we are keeping our promise.”
He said the conservative push for religious protections was not an indication his authority was being undermined.
“It is under my prime ministership that all Australians have been given a say on this issue and if the answer is Yes then, as I promised, there will be a free vote and that means that you will have members of my party taking different views to members of the same party and ditto on the Labor side. That is what a free vote means,” he said.
The news comes as a Liberal senator has delivered on his promise to fast-track same-sex marriage laws, asking federal parliament to start debate on Thursday.
WA Senator Dean Smith’s bill to make same-sex marriage legal will go before parliament one day after the postal survey results assuming a Yes vote is victorious.
A second bill proposed by conservative Liberal senator James Paterson will no longer be considered. Senator Paterson failed to give the Senate formal notice that he would be putting the bill forward.
The controversial bill was widely criticised with the nation’s peak legal advisory body warning it would wind back anti-discrimination laws.
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“What does it say about your government that in 2017, your party room, would even debate legislation that discriminates against gay people and opens up the door to discrimination against black people or Jews, or some other people, on religious grounds?” Independent Senator Derryn Hinch asked.
In a bid to make gay marriage legal as soon as possible, Senator Smith asked that his bill be debated in the Senate all of Thursday, taking precedence over all other government business.
While Senator Paterson’s bill is out, there is still a chance conservative MPs may use his material when putting forward amendments to Senator Smith’s bill.
If a No vote is victorious, senators won’t allow the bill to go before Parliament.
However, a special Newspoll taken for The Australian today indicates the Yes vote will get up with about 63 per cent of respondents voting in favour of gay marriage.
UPTICK OF SUPPORT FOR ‘YES’ VOTE
Almost eight million Australians have said ‘Yes’ to gay marriage, a new poll shows as the fight over how to protect religious freedoms heats up in parliament.
A special Newspoll, taken for The Australian, shows 63 per cent of people who cast their ballot had voted Yes.
It’s a last-minute uptick of support before the result is announced tomorrow, given a Newspoll from the first week of the postal survey showed just 61 per cent of people who voted had backed gay marriage.
Just 37 per cent of people who cast their ballot had voted No, according to the poll.
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That would equate to about 4.5 million of the 12.6 million Australians who have voted.
It comes as a struggle over how to legislate gay marriage heats up in Parliament.
Conservative MPs have proposed a second bill which would allow businesses to refuse to provide services to gay weddings.
Other provisions in the new bill would allow ministers of religion and celebrants to refuse to preside over a gay wedding and parents would be able to pull their children out of classes that conflicted with their values.
Gay marriage supporters have slammed the bill, saying it will wind back anti-discrimination laws.
Senior conservative ministers and MPs told The Australian that the government must support the strict protections outlined in the bill proposed by Liberal senator James Paterson, or face the prospect of an electoral and party room backlash.
Cabinet minister Matt Canavan and Turnbull ministers Zed Seselja, Angus Taylor and Michael Sukkar, as well as former prime minister Tony Abbott, have issued effective support for a bill put forward by Victorian senator James Paterson.
“I don’t believe the Smith bill adequately protects human rights,” Senator Canavan told The Australian.
“Its protections are limited to priests and, in limited circumstances, businesses owned by religious institutes. The right to freedom of belief is held by every Australian, not just those directly involved in church activities.”
Mr Abbott warned that the Prime Minister would need to advocate strongly for greater protections if the Yes campaign was successful.
Writing in The Australian, Mr Abbott said: “Both Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull will need to do much more to protect freedom of conscience and freedom of religion than is the case with Dean Smith’s private member’s bill.’’
Attorney-General George Brandis said parliamentary debate would decide how religious freedoms were protected.
But he agreed with Education Minister Simon Birmingham’s comments yesterday that parliament would not remove one form of discrimination and replace it with another.
“I don’t want to get into the weeds before the parliamentary debate but when we talk about the protection of religious freedom, we’re talking about the protection of religious freedom, not other interests,” he told Sky News today.
Read more at The Australian