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Protect the Aussie way of life: Abbott

Liberal MP Tim Wilson says the best way to protect religious freedom is to vote Yes and put the Coalition in charge of drafting the laws.

Greg BrownGreg Brown
Tony Abbott, right, has hit back at Attorney-General George Brandis, left, warning that legalising same-sex marriage would have vast implications beyond letting gay couples get married.
Tony Abbott, right, has hit back at Attorney-General George Brandis, left, warning that legalising same-sex marriage would have vast implications beyond letting gay couples get married.
6 min read
2:55PMAugust 21, 2017

Liberal MP Tim Wilson says the best way to protect religious freedom when legalising gay marriage is to vote Yes in the postal survey and put the Coalition in charge of drafting the laws.

Mr Wilson said a vote for No would put a future Labor government in charge of drafting the laws, arguing a Bill Shorten-led government would not give proper respect to religious exemptions.

It comes as Coalition MPs are split about whether the debate should be broadened to include religious freedoms or fought simply on whether gay couples should be allowed to marry.

“If you want to have a discussion about religious freedom then what you should actually do is vote Yes, because then you will get a Liberal National government considering how we balance out the competing rights from a change in the law,” Mr Wilson told Sky News.

“A vote for no is a vote for the Greens and Labor to do it when there is a change in the government, whenever that is.

“Bill Shorten has said that if he is elected prime minister he will deal with the issue in the first 100 days and you will accept the Labor Greens solution to marriage for same-sex couples.

“A vote for yes is a vote for a Liberal National government of understanding and taking proper consideration of advancing the rights of all Australians including same sex couples and people who believe in religious freedom.”

Meanwhile, gay marriage advocate Christine Forster has publicly criticised her brother Tony Abbott for the second time in as many days for broadening the debate on same-sex marriage to other issues.

Ms Forster attacked her brother for his interview on 2GB this morning, where he said: “If you degender marriage a whole lot of things come in its wake.”

Mr Abbott continued to broaden his campaign against same-sex marriage this morning by declaring that people who “don’t like the direction our country is headed” should vote No in the postal plebiscite.

Ms Forster responded saying that people trying to link the same-sex marriage vote to religious freedom were “simply seeking to obfuscate and instil fear”.

“Nothing will come in its wake except a lot of people who love each other will get married,” Ms Forster said.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly said religious freedom should be part of the debate on same-sex marriage.

He said it was up to the Yes campaign to properly explain how religious freedoms would be protected if same-sex marriage was legalised.

“We are having a vote to change the Marriage Act so it is up to the proponents of the change, to spell out exactly, to define everything, to make sure we know how this will work and how religious freedoms will work under the change,” Mr Kelly told Sky News.

“This is what part of the debate should be about.”

‘Don’t muddy waters on SSM’

Bill Shorten today hit back at people, such as Mr Abbott, in the No campaign who were trying to link the postal survey to broader issues.

“The statistical survey costing $122 million of taxpayer money will have one question: ‘do you support marriage equality or not?’ All of the other issues being raised by those against marriage equality are other issues,” Mr Shorten said.

“This statistical survey changes nothing about your ability go to church or religious freedom, let’s be straight about that, it is a distraction.

“I just say to the marriage equality opponents: you wanted this survey and now you are trying to throw every other issue into the mix. Fair’s fair.

“If we have to have this vote don’t muddy the waters and don’t cloud the issues by trying to throw every issue in including the kitchen sink. It is not fair and it demeans the argument.”

Bill Shorten, right, says discussion of religious freedom is a distraction in the lead up to the same-sex marriage postal survey.
Bill Shorten, right, says discussion of religious freedom is a distraction in the lead up to the same-sex marriage postal survey.

“I don’t accept the religious practice in this country is under threat. I’m always up for having discussions about religious freedom in this country. I respect faith. What I won’t do is say that somehow by voting yes in a statistical survey to marriage equality that somehow this is a great assault on the religions in Australia,” he said.

“That is not the case. If people want to talk about religious freedom in this country, I’m happy to. What I will not do is confuse all of the issues.”

‘Protect the Australian way of life’

Earlier, Mr Abbott hit back at Attorney-General George Brandis and declared that legalising same-sex marriage would be a “big leap into the dark” that would have vast implications beyond letting gay couples get married.

Mr Abbott continued to broaden his campaign against same-sex marriage this morning by declaring that people who “don’t like the direction our country is headed” should vote No in the postal plebiscite.

Senator Brandis and Mr Abbott’s sister Christine Forster yesterday slammed the former prime minister for trying to engage the debate on broader issues such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the Safe Schools program.

But Mr Abbott doubled down this morning and said a No vote would protect the Australian way of life.

“The best way of standing up for traditional values, the best way of saying you don’t like the direction our country is headed in right now is to get that ballot paper out and vote no,” Mr Abbott told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“There is a real issue here with the protection for religious freedom and freedom of speech if this thing goes through, we have seen in other countries where same-sex marriage has been legalised, like Britain and Canada, attacks on what is being taught in religious schools.

“In Britain Catholic adoption agencies had to close down right around the country because they refused to toe the line on same-sex marriage.”

Mr Abbott said that if marriage was degendered then it would be hard to prevent teachings of gender fluidity in schools.

“If you degender marriage a whole lot of other things come in its wake,” he said.

“How, for instance, can we legitimately say no to gender fluidity programs like so-called Safe Schools if we’ve degendered marriage.

“So this isn’t just about marriage, sure marriage is the immediate focus, but there are lots and lots of implications here and we have got to think them through before we take this big leap into what I think is the dark.”

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Angus Taylor said this morning that religious freedoms should be part of the same-sex marriage debate.

“There is no doubt this has been a major issue in jurisdictions where same-sex marriage has been implemented,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.

“It is one that needs to be part of this debate, there is no doubt in my mind about that and I am very confident it will be part of that debate.”

Labor MP Andrew Leigh said religious exemptions on same-sex marriage should be constrained to limit discrimination of gay people.

Mr Leigh said that religious exemptions were important but they should be managed carefully as discrimination was “inherently ugly”.

He said it would be helpful if there was a proposed model that could be voted on in the plebiscite but rejected claims the debate was broader than changing the Marriage Act.

“Religious freedoms are important, and certainly religious organisations can do things that secular organisations can’t, if you are a secular organisation and you told a woman she wouldn’t be promoted simply because of her gender you would be in breach of the law, but certain religious organisations are able to do that in certain circumstances,” Mr Leigh said.

“But we have to constrain these very carefully because discrimination is inherently ugly and we all want to minimise it.”

Mr Leigh backed the argument of Senator Brandis who said yesterday the debate was solely about changing the Marriage Act and not about broader issues such as religious freedoms.

“I think it would be useful to have a model that we are working towards but I think George Brandis’ point about distraction is also important,” Mr Leigh said.

“One of the things you have seen in other countries is the attempts by opponents of marriage equality to say that we are talking about transgender bathrooms, or Safe Schools or some other issue.

“It is a very simple question: should two people who love one another be allowed to get married?”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/tony-abbott-hits-back-at-george-brandis-on-samesex-marriage/news-story/3f98f087750759dafb5fca6c78a5e873