“Senator Hanson-Young’s Recognition of Foreign Marriages Bill never made any sense ,” FamilyVoice Australia research officer Ros Phillips said today.
“So the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee deserves congratulations for its recently tabled report that recommends the Bill not be passed.”
Ros Phillips said the Bill is contradictory. It seeks to amend the Marriage Act by keeping the age-old definition as a lifelong exclusive complementary union of a man and a woman – but at the same time would allow a different definition for same-sex couples who have gone through a form of marriage overseas.
“The report points out that apart from other concerns, the Bill would discriminate against Australian same-sex couples who cannot afford to travel overseas,” Ros Phillips said.
“The Senate has already voted on this issue in 2013. One year earlier it rejected a bill seeking to legalise same-sex ‘marriage’. A same-sex union may be loving, but it can never be a marriage, which is fundamentally complementary, not same-same.
“The reason marriage has existed in all cultures through the ages is its potential to provide the optimal environment for raising the next generation. That is still true,” Ros Phillips said
Mrs Roslyn Phillips, BSc DipEd National research officer FamilyVoice Australia: a Christian voice for family, faith and freedom
