Labor No MPs won’t get vote on religious freedom

Labor MPs who are opposed to same-sex marriage will not get a conscience vote on enshrining further religious protections.

Parliament House is seen through a rainbow flag. Labor No MPs will not exercise a conscience vote. Picture: AAP

Labor MPs who are opposed to same-sex marriage will not get a conscience vote on enshrining further religious protections after next year’s Ruddock review.

With Labor No senators today opposing amendments to the Dean Smith bill due to a review on religious freedom next year, legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said they would not get a conscience vote on religious protections recommended by a panel led by former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock.

“The agreement that we reached back at the last national conference was that there would continue to be a conscience vote on the question of marriage equality,” Mr Dreyfus told Sky News.

“The Labor Party has never seen it as necessary to have individual positions adopted. These are matters that we can and do argue out in the federal Labor Party, in the caucus, through the mechanisms of our national conference, and I’m confident we will be able to do that again.’

Labor senator Helen Polley last night said she would oppose amendments but there were “legitimate concerns regarding religious freedom” that should be investigated in the Ruddock review.

“It’s important that these issues be investigated by the Ruddock review and that religious freedom protections in Australia be considered in greater detail,” Senator Polley told the Senate.

“Those who know me know that I have always had a very strong view regarding marriage, its definition and its place in our society. It is the cornerstone foundation of our democracy, with religious and cultural traditions as its core.”

She noted the case of a teenager who was “fired” from her job because she wrote “It’s okay to vote no” on Facebook.

“Unless we ensure appropriate protections are in place, this is the type of intolerance incident I fear could become the norm if safeguards are not put in place in the future,” Senator Polley said.

“The challenge we face in this place is to ensure the almost five million people who voted no are not marginalised because of their traditional view of marriage they hold dear. We need to ensure that there exists adequate protections for freedom of religion and freedom of speech in this country.”

She also said there needs to be reform of antidiscrimination laws which were “unbalanced” in the area of same-sex marriage.

“It protects same-sex orientated Australians and people who speak on their behalf from discrimination in every state and territory and federally, but the law in some states provides no protection at all to individual Australians who support traditional marriage from a conscientious or religious conviction, particularly NSW and South Australia,” she said.

“Similarly, federal law provides no protection to individual Australians who support traditional marriage based on a religious conviction.

“We must ensure that we balance the rights rather than the exceptions for religious freedom. Religious freedom in terms of exceptions from antidiscrimination law neglects that religious

freedom is a right in and of itself.”

She also said parental rights and religious charities need further protection.

“It can be argued that the Constitution has failed to protect religious freedom. Commonwealth laws only protect freedom of political and religious belief in the area of employment, which is why freedom of religion must be entrenched in individual acts of parliament,” she said.

Labor No senators oppose amendments

Three Labor senators who are opposed to same-sex marriage — Don Farrell, Chris Ketter and Helen Polly — have indicated they would vote against the passage of the Smith bill but would also oppose amendments to increase religious protections.

Victorian senator Jacinta Collins, a No voter, this morning indicated she would abstain from a vote on the Smith bill but oppose amendments, while NSW senator Deborah O’Neill is yet to reveal her intentions.

Opposition senate leader Penny Wong said Labor would oppose amendments to the Smith bill and said the party’s No voters “have not sought” a conscience vote on amendments.

“There are senators on my side of the chamber who do have a different position to that of the party’s platform in that they do not support marriage equality, and they have a conscience vote on that,” Senator Wong said.

“They have not sought a conscience vote in relation to the amendments before the chamber.”

The first batch of proposed amendments, pushed by Liberal senators David Fawcett and James Paterson, were defeated this afternoon, by 41 votes to 24, with all Labor senators voting against them.

In a speech to the Senate this morning, Senator Collins said Labor senators would oppose amendments being pushed by Coalition conservatives because religious protections were being “kicked down the road” to next year in a review lead by former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock.

However, she said Labor senators were not bound on amendments and had a conscience vote.

“Labor Senators have a conscience vote with respect to the issue of same sex marriage, whether it’s the vote at the end of the bill, or whether it is related to same-sex marriage in the amendments,” she told the Senate.

“What I can indicate to the chamber, though, is that no Labor senator, in the circumstances where the Prime Minister has kicked certain issues down the road with the Ruddock review, has sought to exercise a position of conscience in relation to the amendments before us at this stage.”

Senator Farrell said he would vote No to the Smith bill, noting five million voters, and “many ALP voters” were opposed to changing the Marriage Act.

“Lots of those people would have voted No for reasons of faith. I don’t believe it’s an unreasonable position for me to adopt, that I should reflect the views of those No voters and, in particular, those people who support the Labor Party who voted No,” Senator Farrell said.

“The vote was not a unanimous vote, and I believe that my no vote in this place reflects the view of those people who voted No in this most recent survey.”

He said he would vote against amendments to increase religious exemptions but denied Labor was not interested in the issue of religious freedom.

“The Labor Party is deeply concerned about this issue, but the Prime Minister has now set up a committee to look at this issue more generally and how the issues of religious freedom should be dealt with in this country,” Senator Farrell said.

“This appreciates that there are concerns in our community about how religious freedoms are being reflected and, of course, the need to ensure that those issues are dealt with properly and in a timely fashion but not be linked to this bill because the issues of religious freedom are wider than simply the issue of same-sex marriage and, therefore, should have their own respectful debate.”

Senator Ketter said he would vote No because of his religious conviction

“They go to the fact that the family is the fundamental group unit in society and to the uniqueness of the relationship between men and women,” he said.

“However, the Australian people have spoken and I do not intend to take up the time of this chamber reprosecuting the relative merits of the arguments. As I have said, mine is a minority view and I respect the views of the majority.”

Labor Senate Labor leader Senator Penny Wong and her deputy, South Australian right-wing powerbroker, Senator Don Farrell, who opposes same-sex marriage. Picture: Ray Strange.