SSM bill result shows Turnbull is ‘a strong leader’

Tony Abbott says an inquiry into religious protections chaired by Philip Ruddock should have come before the SSM poll.

Tony Abbott says he’s disappointed that religious protection amendments to Dean Smith’s same-sex marriage bill did not pass the Senate, and hopeful that similar amendments will get “another go” in the House of Representatives.

The former prime minister and lead No campaigner said he expected people would move similar amendments in the Lower House.

Tony Abbott. Picture; AAP.

“Given that both Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull said that freedom of religion was very, very important in the course of the same-sex marriage debate, it’s very disappointing that Shorten didn’t give his own members freedom of conscience on the floor of the Senate, and it’s disappointing that the government hasn’t done more to try to ensure that freedom of religion is protected at the same time as same-sex marriage is passed,” Mr Abbott told 2GB.

He said an inquiry into religious protections chaired by Liberal Party elder Philip Ruddock was a “step in the right direction” but should have come before the same-sex marriage postal survey rather than after it.

The Ruddock inquiry, which was announced by Malcolm Turnbull last week, is due to report on March 30.

“It’s a real pity that the Ruddock inquiry wasn’t before the same-sex plebiscite, as opposed to afterwards. It was a bit of an afterthought,” Mr Abbott said.

He said supporters of same-sex marriage should have been obliged to put up a bill for Australians to vote on, rather than the question, “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”.

“That bill should have been put to the plebiscite, not just the question of principle,” Mr Abbott said.

“In the end you often can’t decide on the principle until you’ve seen the detail of the implementation.”

SSM shows Turnbull is ‘a strong leader’

Attorney-General George Brandis has used the passing of same-sex marriage bill through the Senate to defend Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership as Coalition MPs agitate against the Prime Minister.

Senator Brandis said Mr Turnbull was a strong leader, despite Nationals MPs Andrew Broad and Nick Christensen saying today the government lacked leadership and handled the same-sex marriage bill badly.

“I’ll tell you what true leadership looks like, it means having lead a government that is responsible for the greatest level of job creation in 2017 than any time since before the GFC,” Senator Brandis said in Senate question time.

“I’ll tell you what else true leadership looks like, it means keeping Australia safe and keeping our borders secure, that’s what true leadership looks like.

“And also, by the way, it means being responsible for the breakthrough social change on which this chamber voted on earlier in the day, something the Labor Party didn’t do a thing about for six years.”

Senator Brandis said the Senate “celebrated a great thing” today by passing the marriage bill which only a “handful” of senators were opposed to.

“It happened because Mr Turnbull provided the leadership to do it. No previous Australian prime minister, not Mr Howard, not Mr Rudd, not Ms Gillard, not Mr Abbott, has supported or prosecuted this cause. It took the Turnbull government to do it.”

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this morning said people admired Mr Turnbull’s “intelligence”.

“I think the Prime Minister is doing a fine job as an intelligent, committed and dedicated member of the Liberal Party and he is also doing a fine job as Prime Minister of this country,” Ms Bishop said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP.

Earlier, Nationals MP George Christensen backed Andrew Broad in saying Mr Turnbull lacked leadership because he did not secure more religious protections on the Dean Smith bill.

“A true leader would have sought to capture the will of the people and protect freedoms, not this hands-off approach,” Mr Christensen tweeted.

I concur with my Nationals colleague Andrew Broad. A true leader would have sought to capture the will of the people and protect freedoms, not this hands-off approach. https://t.co/lQhVPwwSFB

— George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) November 28, 2017

Mr Turnbull rejected tensions were at boiling point in the Coalition party room. He urged backbenchers to stop speaking badly of the government in public.

“Australians do not expect politicians to be talking about each other in this type of area. They expect them to be focused on the big issues, the ones I’ve been talking about with Lucy here today; national security, keeping Australians safe, trade, jobs, employment,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Those are the issues that Australians expect us to be talking about and we should all remember that that’s what the voters in New England and Bennelong expect us to be talking about too.”

How each Senator voted on bill

The Dean Smith bill to legalise same-sex marriage has passed through the Senate with no amendments.

The bill won the support of the upper house by 43 votes to 12. It will be put to the House of Representatives next week where it will need to win the support of the majority of MPs to become law.

Liberal senator Dean Smith was the final speaker on the third reading of the bill he sponsored, declaring the bill got the “balance correct”.

Here’s how each Senator voted on the bill:

‘YES’ VOTERS (43)

Liberal

Simon Birmingham. George Brandis, David Bushby, Mathias Cormann, Jonathon Duniam, Mitch Fifield, Ian McDonald, Nigel Scullion, Anne Ruston, James Paterson, Jane Hume Marise Payne, Linda Reynolds, Scott Ryan, Dean Smith

Labor

Carol Brown, Catryna Bilyk, Doug Cameron, Kim Carr, Anthony Chisholm, Kimberley Kitching, Sue Lines, Jenny McAllister, Malarndirri McCarthy, Claire Moore, Louise Prat, t Lisa Singh, Anne Urquhart, Murray Watt, Penny Wong

Greens

Andrew Bartlett, Richard Di Natale, Sarah Hanson-Young, Nick McKim, Lee Rhiannon, Janet Rice, Jordon Steele-John, Rachel Siewert, Peter Whish-Wilson

Crossbench Stirling Griff; Rex Patrick NXT), David Leyonhjelm (Liberal Democrats), Derryn Hinch

‘NO’ VOTERS (12)

Labor Chris Ketter, Helen Polley

Liberals Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Eric Abetz, Slade Brockman

Nationals John Williams, Matt Canavan, Barry O’Sullivan

Crossbench Lucy Gichuhi, Fraser Anning, Cory Bernardi, Brian Burston (One Nation)

DID NOT VOTE (17)

Liberals Michaelia Cash, David Fawcett, James McGrath, Zed Seselja, Arthur Sinodinos (on leave)

Nationals Bridget McKenzie

Labor Jacinta Collins, Sam Dastyari, Pat Dodson (granted leave for personal reasons), Don Farrell, Alex Gallacher, Katy Gallagher, Gavin Marshall (overseas), Deb O’Neill, Glenn Sterle

One Nation Pauline Hanson, Peter Georgiou

“The lack of substantive amendments indicates we got the balance correct. The bill expresses a faith in the current architecture of Australia’s religious protections. The architecture is precise,” Senator Smith said.

“It has allowed a multitude of faiths to thrive and that will not change. The bill is the fulfilment of the people’s will to extend equality to all citizens and it takes away no religious ore civil right from anyone. To those who have opposed this bill, I say there is enormous goodwill to ensure this is not triumph of one group over another.

“Unlike so much of what characterises modern politics, this is not triumph of one politician over another or even one party over another. Instead, it has restored faith in our Parliament and in this Senate.”

Senator Smith, a conservative, said he only started believing in same-sex marriage three years ago and was inspired by 2014 Lindt cafe terror victim Tori Johnson.

“Tori lost his life in the lint terrorist siege. He was brave, he was courageous and he had a partner named Thomas. On that flight I thought of their love, I thought of their loss and it changed me,” Senator Smith said.

“I realised that people with real lives deserve their love to be blessed and affirmed by the institution of marriage if they so choose.”

Penny Wong hugs Dean Smith as other Senators celebrate the passing of the bill. Picture: Gary Ramage.

Earlier

Opposition senate leader Penny Wong says “this day has been a long time coming” as the bill to legalise same-sex marriage goes through its third and final reading in the Senate.

Senator Wong told the Senate it was “not so long ago” that being gay was illegal as the Dean Smith bill moves closer to passing the Senate unamended.

“But equality is a remarkably persistent principle. It is a defining principle. A principle that springs from the simple and powerful precept of the inherent dignity of every individual. Of every human being,” Senator Wong said.

“So today we stand on the cusp of a remarkable achievement and a historic event and we pause briefly to reflect just for a moment of what we are a part.

“We are a part of an act of acceptance, an act of inclusion, an act of respect, an act of celebration, a day when this Senate declares our acceptance of our LGBTIQ brothers and our sisters.”

She said a change in the law would make a large difference to the lives of gay Australians.

“What it says to young LGBTIQ Australians, what it says to the young man struggling with who he is, or the young woman who feels alone and ashamed, what it says to the children of same-sex couples who feel ostracised,” she said.

“It says to so many Australians, this parliament, this country, accept you for who you are. Your love is not lesser, and nor are you. It says you’re one of us.”

Senate leader George Brandis labelled the move “historic”.

“It is well known that some years ago, some time ago, I was not a supporter of the plebiscite, but I am so glad it happened this way,” Senator Brandis said.

“I am so glad that we involved every man and woman in Australia in this historic decision.

“I am so proud of Australian democracy today, more proud than I have ever been. Nobody owns this result, but the Australian people themselves.”

Resources Minister Matt Canavan said he could not support the bill because it does not have enough religious protections.

“I do not think we have made these changes in a way which advances rights fully through this process, in particular I think the failure to fully protect celebrants who have a or may have a conscientious or non-religious objection to solemnising a same-sex marriage is a missed opportunity for our parliament to unify here,” he said.

.@Louise_Pratt: the senate is now passing a law that will 'signify the status of our relationship is equal to all others.' #auspol MORE: https://t.co/gB3traaAjm pic.twitter.com/BTyoW6Qm3c

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 29, 2017

PM’s leadership faces Nationals fire

Nationals MP Andrew Broad has accused Malcolm Turnbull of showing a “complete lack of leadership” as conservative Coalition MPs show dismay at the likelihood the Dean Smith bill will be passed through the parliament with no amendments.

Mr Broad said the Prime Minister had walked away from enshrining religious protections in a “sneaky way” as the Senate last night rejected all amendments to the Smith bill. The bill is likely to pass the upper house without changes today.

Andrew Broad. Picture: Kym Smith.

“In my view, there’s been a complete lack of leadership,” Mr Broad told the ABC. “All the assurances both by the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader were that religious protections would be protected, they believed in those.

“(They) seemed to be walked away from in what I think is quite a sneaky way.”

He said there was no point in trying to move amendments in the lower house because the numbers were stacked against MPs who want further religious exemptions.

The Victorian MP’s criticisms of Mr Turnbull come after Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen blamed the Prime Minister for the LNP’s poor showing at the Queensland election.

Queensland MP Scott Buchholz and senator Ian Macdonald yesterday criticised the Prime Minister for lacking an “inner mongrel”, saying he had failed to take on Labor with more “passion and aggression”.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said some MPs were “tilting at windmills” and “seeking to create debates about issues that don’t really seem to be there”.

“The bill before the senate has strong protections in place in relation to religious freedoms as it relates to the change to the law to provide for same-sex marriage,” Senator Birmingham said this morning.

“When this bill passes the parliament, as I’m sure it will, Australians will still be able to go to their place of worship and they will be able to worship according to their faith, their doctrines, their beliefs, as they can today.

“Churches, synagogues, and mosques will be able to turn away same-sex couples and say ‘we don’t want to have anything to do with your relationship or your marriage’.”

Liberal frontbencher Zed Seselja last night accused colleagues of conspiring with the Greens and Labor to undermine the rights of parents and freedom of speech.

“Labor, Greens and a handful of Liberals are undermining freedom of speech, religion and parental rights in Australia by voting down these amendments,” he said.