Parishioners prepared: A Hobart parishioner holds a copy of the Australian Bishops’ pastoral letter on marriage, distributed in Hobart earlier this year
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Former minister moved in Senate that Catholic church should have right to distribute Don’t Mess with Marriage booklet.
A motion to protect the Catholic church’s right to distribute an anti-marriage equality booklet that marriage equality advocates have labelled “divisive” has been shot down by the Senate.
A motion to protect the Catholic church’s right to distribute an anti-marriage equality booklet that marriage equality advocates have labelled “divisive” has been shot down by the Senate.
A former cabinet minister turned Coalition backbencher, Eric Abetz, put up the motion in the Senate on Thursday supporting the church’s pamphlet campaign.
The motion stated that: “The Senate, while not expressing a view on the contents of the booklet issued by the Australian Catholic bishops conference entitled Don’t Mess with Marriage, fully supports the rights of members of the Catholic church, including Archbishop Julian Porteous, to distribute it.”
It was brought on by Abetz with the support of a number of crossbenchers, including the independent senator John Madigan, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, Family First senator Bob Day, and Palmer United party’s Dio Wang.
Despite the crossbench support, Labor and the Greens joined forces to block the motion before it got put to a vote.
Abetz was scathing, saying that the two parties shut down the basic right of freedom of speech.
“Free speech is a key pillar of our society and the tricky tactics used by Labor in an effort to shut down debate and run a protection racket for the extreme Greens flies in the face of the open discussion we should be having about marriage,” he said.
“The motion firmly supports not only the right of the Catholic archbishop of Hobart and the Australian Catholic bishops conference but all Australians to engage in open discussion about the truth of marriage.
“I will continue to fight to uphold the institution of marriage and defend the right of people to speak up in defence of this vitally important societal institution.”
He promised to bring back the motion in the next sitting week.
The letter from Catholic bishops of Australia was distributed directly to Catholic schools earlier this year.
It said that only the union between a man and woman can make a person “whole”.
“Same-sex friendships are of a very different kind: to treat them as the same does a grave injustice to both kinds of friendship and ignores the particular values that real marriages serve,” it said.
“ ‘Messing with marriage’, therefore, is also ‘messing with kids’. It is gravely unjust to them. The principal ‘public’ significance of the marriage-based family is precisely in being the nursery for raising healthy, well-rounded, virtuous citizens.”
The Greens senator Robert Simms told Guardian Australia that the pamphlet promoted the idea that same-sex parents were “deficient”.
“I think it’s totally out of step with society,” he said. “It really does fan divisions in the community.”
The Tasmanian anti-discrimination commissioner is assessing a complaint on the booklet.
Labor senator Claire Moore said it was “simply not appropriate for the Senate to determine a position on this matter” while a case was being decided.
Abetz said the church’s right to “teach its flock” its beliefs on marriage were being “shut down” by organisations.
“Those who always hector us about tolerance show the most extreme intolerance,” he said, referring to the Greens. “It is vital that there be an expression from this Senate about the right of freedom to speech and the right to express certain views.”
Simms said: “The Australian Greens support free speech in this country, but we recognise that freedom of speech is a limited concept in any democracy.
“We believe that the right to express a view should be balanced against the rights of members of our community to feel safe and secure from persecution and discrimination.”
Abetz, from the conservative right of the Liberal party, has fought hard for the Parliament to retain the existing definition of marriage, which states that it is exclusively between a man and a woman.
The Coalition has pledged to hold a public poll on marriage equality after the next federal election, although whether or not the result of the plebiscite will be binding on parliamentarians has not yet been settled.
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Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/12/greens-and-labor-thwart-eric-abetz-anti-marriage-equality-booklet-motion
The motion stated that: “The Senate, while not expressing a view on the contents of the booklet issued by the Australian Catholic bishops conference entitled Don’t Mess with Marriage, fully supports the rights of members of the Catholic church, including Archbishop Julian Porteous, to distribute it.”
It was brought on by Abetz with the support of a number of crossbenchers, including the independent senator John Madigan, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, Family First senator Bob Day, and Palmer United party’s Dio Wang.
Despite the crossbench support, Labor and the Greens joined forces to block the motion before it got put to a vote.
Abetz was scathing, saying that the two parties shut down the basic right of freedom of speech.
“Free speech is a key pillar of our society and the tricky tactics used by Labor in an effort to shut down debate and run a protection racket for the extreme Greens flies in the face of the open discussion we should be having about marriage,” he said.
“The motion firmly supports not only the right of the Catholic archbishop of Hobart and the Australian Catholic bishops conference but all Australians to engage in open discussion about the truth of marriage.
“I will continue to fight to uphold the institution of marriage and defend the right of people to speak up in defence of this vitally important societal institution.”
He promised to bring back the motion in the next sitting week.
The letter from Catholic bishops of Australia was distributed directly to Catholic schools earlier this year.
It said that only the union between a man and woman can make a person “whole”.
“Same-sex friendships are of a very different kind: to treat them as the same does a grave injustice to both kinds of friendship and ignores the particular values that real marriages serve,” it said.
“ ‘Messing with marriage’, therefore, is also ‘messing with kids’. It is gravely unjust to them. The principal ‘public’ significance of the marriage-based family is precisely in being the nursery for raising healthy, well-rounded, virtuous citizens.”
The Greens senator Robert Simms told Guardian Australia that the pamphlet promoted the idea that same-sex parents were “deficient”.
“I think it’s totally out of step with society,” he said. “It really does fan divisions in the community.”
The Tasmanian anti-discrimination commissioner is assessing a complaint on the booklet.
Labor senator Claire Moore said it was “simply not appropriate for the Senate to determine a position on this matter” while a case was being decided.
Abetz said the church’s right to “teach its flock” its beliefs on marriage were being “shut down” by organisations.
“Those who always hector us about tolerance show the most extreme intolerance,” he said, referring to the Greens. “It is vital that there be an expression from this Senate about the right of freedom to speech and the right to express certain views.”
Simms said: “The Australian Greens support free speech in this country, but we recognise that freedom of speech is a limited concept in any democracy.
“We believe that the right to express a view should be balanced against the rights of members of our community to feel safe and secure from persecution and discrimination.”
Abetz, from the conservative right of the Liberal party, has fought hard for the Parliament to retain the existing definition of marriage, which states that it is exclusively between a man and a woman.
The Coalition has pledged to hold a public poll on marriage equality after the next federal election, although whether or not the result of the plebiscite will be binding on parliamentarians has not yet been settled.
....
Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/12/greens-and-labor-thwart-eric-abetz-anti-marriage-equality-booklet-motion
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