Marriage bills - 2012

There are currently three bills in the federal parliament which all promote same-sex 'marriage'. One is in the Senate and two are in the House of Representatives.

Committees held Inquiries into these Bills - and Reports were tabled in June 2012. Both Inquiries received a record number of submissions.
See the relevant sections below for links to the FINAL REPORTS!

We support marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Thus we oppose all of these Bills which seek to legalise 'marriage' between two men or between two women. In our responses we need to politely state our position and give some reasons WHY we believe that marriage in Australia should remain ONLY between a man and a woman -to the exclusion of all others and voluntarily entered into for life. In addition, we need to tell MPs that we don't support ANY form of registration of same-sex 'relationships'. Around the world this has been a stepping stone to the granting of 'marriage'.
Marriage should NOT be extended to include same-sex 'marriage'.

It is vital that we respond - please ACT NOW!

ACTION: Now is the time to contact your MPs and Senators.

Click here for details of MPs and Senators - write them a brief, polite letter asking them to vote against same-sex 'marriage'.

It is expected that the Bills could be debated when the Parliament returns from the winter recess - in early August 2012.

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The Bills before the federal Parliament

Senate
The Bill in the Senate is called the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010 - it was put forward by Greens' Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in 2010.
The Bill was sent to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for an Inquiry.
Submissions closed on 2 April 2012 and the Committee report was tabled in the Senate on June 25, 2012.

The website page for the Inquiry - click here.
Information about the Inquiry - click here.
Information about the Bill - including summary and full text of the Bill - click here.

Read the final REPORT - click here.
The Report was tabled on June 25, 2012.
The Report recommends that same-sex 'marriage' be legalised.
The Committee made two recommendations regarding the wording of the Bill... the first about the definition of 'marriage' and the second regarding making an assurance that 'ministers of religion' would not be forced to marry people under the changed law.
Read our 'front page' article about this report (26 June) - click here.

ACT NOW - click here to find out how about the Inquiry - and read submissions, transcripts of public hearings and the final Report..

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House of Representatives
Two Bills have been put into the House of Representatives.

The first is a private member's Bill which has been put by Stephen Jones, an ALP MP. It is called the Marriage Amendment Bill 2012.

This is not an official Labor government bill - all Labor MPs will have a conscience vote (following a decision made at the National ALP Conference in December 2011 to support same-sex 'marriage' and give a conscience vote to MPs).
Read media report at the ABC - click here.

The second Bill has been jointly sponsored by Greens MP Adam Bandt and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie. It is called the Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2012.

Both of these Bills were introduced into the House of Representatives on 13 February 2012.

The House sent the Bills for an Inquiry by the House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.

The Committee asked for public input - it took the form of a short 'online survey'.
The official introduction to the survey says these two Bills "legalise same sex marriage in Australia, continue to impose no obligation on authorised celebrants, including ministers of religion, to perform any marriage, including same sex marriages, and recognise same sex marriages performed in foreign countries."
However the proposed Bill does not mention this proviso of not forcing ministers to perform same-sex 'marriages'.

There were five questions - there was an opportunity to make a comment but this was limited to 250 words - because of the high number of submissions expected. The survey closed on 20 April 2012.

A public hearing was held in Sydney on 13 April 2012.
A transcript of the hearing is available - click here.
The Committee tabled their Report in the House of Representatives on 18 June 2012.

FINAL REPORT:
The Report made no overall recommendation regarding same-sex 'marriage' - it mostly assessed the legal implications. However the Committee's Chair, Graham Perrett (Lab) endorsed it in his comments. Two Labor and two Liberal MPs specifically opposed the Bills in their comments.
Read the Report - click here.

PLEASE ACT NOW - click here to read about the Inquiry on the Committee's website.

Then please contact your MPs about this issue. Ask them to preserve the definition of marriage as being between "one man and one woman voluntarily entered into for life".
Click here for Contact details for federal MPs and Senators.