Party leaders backing religious rights for marriage
MALCOLM Turnbull and Bill Shorten (pictured) have both assured Australians any legislation making same-sex marriage legal will come with religious protections.
The Prime Minister, especially, is under pressure from conservatives inside the Liberal Party — including f former leader John Howard — to detail protections for parental rights, freedom of speech and religious f freedom before the postal survey on marriage closes.
Mr Howard said there would be scant opportunity to do so if there was a majority “Yes” vote and a private Bill was drafted for Parliament to consider before the end of the year.
Mr Turnbull, in acknowledging “John’s wisdom”, noted the former prime minister didn’t make a submission to a Senate inquiry looking at what a Bill might contain.
“We will welcome John Howard’s contribution to the finetuning of that exposure draft Bill and its improvement,” he told Sky News yesterday.
The Bill would include religious protections “but of course it then has to go through the Parliament”.
Mr Shorten, during his visit to Hobart, committed Labor to not supporting any Bill that impinged on religious freedom.
“We will make sure that concerns about religious freedom are met and dealt with and are treated with respect,” he said.
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said opponents of same-sex marriage were raising every issue except the one being asked of Australians.
“Whether two people who love each other can give that commitment in front of friends and family,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than 87,000 calls have been made to a hotline set up to assist Australians with queries about the postal survey, with 4 per cent listed as complaints.
One per cent were classified as a compliment.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has had to reassign staff working on the next Census in 2021 to the survey.
So far, the ABS has spent $63.5 million on the ballot.
To date, 61 survey forms have been reissued to replace spoiled ones — including those with drawings by small children.