Senator Boyce had told Fairfax Media before the debate and vote on Thursday that she was prepared to ''cross the floor'' to back two bills – the international marriage bill and another that bans discrimination against gay and transgender residents of Commonwealth-funded aged care homes. Liberal Senator Sue Boyce sits with ALP Senator Louise Pratt to vote in favour of recognising international same sex marriages on Thursday. Credit:Andrew Meares The Greens' bill to recognise in Australia same-sex marriages performed overseas was voted on in the Senate on Thursday. The aged care bill will be voted on at a later date. ''It's an important step towards marriage equality,'' Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who put forward the bill, told Fairfax Media on Thursday morning. ''We have thousands of couples now living in Australia who've gone overseas and gotten married . . . and they arrive back home at Sydney International Airport and all of a sudden they have to check their marriage at the customs gate.''

Thursday's bill would have changed a section of the Marriage Act that states that ''certain unions are not marriages''. Liberal Senator Sue Boyce crosses the floor. The division was lost. Credit:Andrew Meares The Act says that foreign weddings between ''a man and another man'' and ''a woman and another woman . . . must not be recognised as a marriage in Australia''. During the debate, Labor Senator Louise Pratt, who has a transgender partner, told the Senate the current law imposed ''unnecessary hurt and hardship on couples'' by rejecting their marriages when they arrived home after marrying overseas. ''As an LGBTI Australian myself and as a member of this place I am not going to stop fighting until our equal rights are achieved,'' Senator Pratt said.

Senator Hanson-Young told the Senate in the debate that thousands of Australians were ''sitting in hope today that their friends, their family, their loved ones and their work colleagues will finally be able to have the relationship with the person they love recognised as equal''. ''I urge all members today, regardless of what your leaders have told you, to think with your hearts, open your minds and vote the way you know is right. Do not let anyone say you do not have the right to speak up for what your constituents want, for what you know in your heart is the right thing to do just because your leader has told you to stay put,'' she said. But Liberal senator George Brandis responded by saying there was something ''chillingly unpleasant about hearing [Greens] Senator Hanson-Young giving one of her emotional speeches and claim, as she does, that her point of view is the only morally legitimate point of view''.



''How dare you,'' Senator Brandis said. ''How dare you be so puffed up with moral vanity? Because, Senator Hanson-Young, there are millions and millions of Australians who vigorously dissent fro your view, who have a commitment to the definition of marriage has always been understood.'' The Labor Party lets MPs vote according to their conscience on same-sex marriage, but Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has refused to allow a free vote within the Coalition despite members including Kelly O'Dwyer, Malcolm Turnbull, Wyatt Roy, Simon Birmingham and Senator Boyce all supporting marriage equality.



Senator Boyce told Fairfax Media before the debate that she had spoken with Mr Abbott about her opposition to the party platform. ''It's an awful feeling, it's not something you want to do,'' she said. ''There is a lot of camaraderie, we are good colleagues. It's an awful feeling but I just think it's important enough that we get this piece of legislation through.''

Senator Boyce said Mr Abbott pointed out to her that within the Liberal Party one was entitled to a free vote on any topic. ''A conscience vote means people can move around as they like,'' she said. ''But also none of us have signed a piece of paper like Labor and the Greens have saying we'll always do what the party tells us to.''



There is an understanding within the Coalition that shadow ministers must vote according to the party's position or else sacrifice their cabinet position. Mr Abbott said he had not ''counselled'' Senator Boyce over her plans to cross the floor. ''I appreciate Sue's position and we're not a Stalinist party,'' he told reporters in Queanbeyan. ''Obviously we have a clear position that we don't support gay marriage as a party, but people on our side of the political fence have always had the right if they feel strongly enough about something to make their own decision.''

Support for marriage equality is growing, not just in the Parliament, but significantly within the Australian public and some MPs, including former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Labor MP Bernie Ripoll have changed their minds on the issue and now support marriage equality. Senator Hanson-Young said the ''ludicrous thing'' about the issue of marriage equality in this Parliament is that ''you have Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott effectively standing in the way of these reforms happening''. The senator believed there was more support for the legislation in the Senate than in the House of Representatives and she hoped support had grown further since the issue was debated last year. ''I hope that we can get a few more people across the line than we did last time,'' she said. Follow the National Times on Twitter