Five cabinet ministers get behind same-sex-marriage bill amendments

Conservative MPs were confident support was growing for five amendments to be moved by two Liberal ministers.

A wall painted with the rainbow flag and a message in Sydney’s Newtown.

At least five Turnbull cabinet ministers have supported amendments to a cross-party same-sex- marriage bill aimed at better upholding protections for human rights, faith-based charities, parental rights and freedom of speech.

Conservative MPs were confident support was growing for five amendments to be moved by South Australian Liberal senator David Fawcett and Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson.

Five ministers — Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, Mathias Cormann, Matt Canavan and George Brandis — are expected to support some or all of the amendments. They join a growing number of government frontbenchers including Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Alan Tudge, Angus Taylor, Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar.

The amendments have dropped all reference to commercial concessions allowing florists and bakers to deny service to same-sex couples and instead are designed to give extra protections to those who support traditional marriage.

Senator Paterson, who supports same-sex marriage, yesterday told the Senate it was important to ensure the freedoms of Australians who believed in traditional marriage were protected.

“This is a substantial change and we must get it right,” Senator Paterson said. “The challenge is to find a way to harmoniously coexist, including on fundamental issues like marriage.

“We should not use the power of the state to force our views about marriage on anyone else ... I am here today to speak on behalf of the many Australians who voted Yes but don’t want to see this change come at the expense of anyone else’s freedoms.”

The government’s chief whip in the Senate, David Bushby, also told The Australian he would support all the amendments.

“Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of expression are the freedoms that underpin and reinforce all other freedoms,” he said. “Those are the freedoms that need to be given the strongest protections when you’re looking at potential conflicts between freedoms and rights.”

The proposed changes would separately recognise both male-female marriage and two-person marriage as valid instead of extinguishing the traditional view of marriage — still held to be true by almost five million Australians.

Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act would ensure that faith-based organisations, which continue to uphold traditional marriage, have discretion over who they employ and appoint.

In addition, the Charities Act also would be amended to ensure that faith-based organisations do not lose their charitable status or are deemed not to be in conflict with public policy for promoting traditional marriage. The effect of the changes would allow Catholic adoption agencies or faith-based foster-care providers to be able to offer services in line with their religious convictions without facing the prospect of closure.

The proposed amendments will also establish an anti-detriment clause or a “shield” that will protect individuals and organisations with a belief in traditional marriage from being subjected to unfavourable treatment by others.

This measure is aimed at ensuring individuals are not subject to detrimental conduct or sacked because of their personal views on marriage.