Treasurer tells ABC that parliament needs to legislate for all Australians, not just 61% who voted for same-sex marriage

As many, and “probably” more, Australians want protection of religious freedoms than want same-sex marriage legalised, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, has said.



In an interview on ABC’s 7.30, Morrison said same-sex marriage was a “done deal” and a “finished debate” but parliament now needed to legislate a bill for 100% of Australians, not just the 61.6% who voted for marriage equality.

The comments follow Morrison’s calls over the weekend for parents to be able to withdraw their children from classes that do not accord with their values and to protect organisations that express the view marriage is between a man and a woman.

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Asked why he was representing the views of 40% of Australians who wanted religious freedom protected, Morrison said: “I don’t believe that only 40% of Australia believe there should be religious protection in this bill, I believe that figure is much higher.”

Broadcaster Leigh Sales pointed out that more than 60% of people voted for same-sex marriage without any of the additional legal changes Morrison was calling for.

The treasurer replied that while the marriage debate “has concluded” the parliament now had to “finalise a bill that recognises that, legislated that and now adds to that religious protections as much as can be supported by the parliament and that’s what I’ll be pursuing”.

“I don’t accept for a second that just because only 40% of people, or just under that, voted not to proceed with same-sex marriage, that’s not the only people who care about religious freedoms and freedom of speech in this country,” he said.

“I say that figure is well over half the population and about probably the same level or greater than voted for same-sex marriage.”

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has said marriage equality should be legislated this year and opened the door to a separate religious freedom bill to be considered next year, leaving some conservatives angry that he and the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, were not arguing more vocally for amendments in the marriage bill.

Despite Morrison’s claim that his advocacy sought to represent the views of 100% of Australians, Labor and the Greens have already warned the government not to attempt to introduce amendments that enact new forms of discrimination against LGBTI Australians.

On Thursday Liberal senator Dean Smith introduced a cross-party bill in the Senate which is supported by Liberal supporters of same-sex marriage, Labor and the Greens.

The director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre and co-chair of the Equality Campaign, Anna Brown, said the cross-party bill was already the “middle ground” in balancing the rights of marriage equality and religious freedom.

Australian Marriage Equality’s co-chair, Alex Greenwich, said the yes campaign supported the bill in its current form and an amendment for celebrants to conscientiously object seemed “unnecessary”.

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Asked if he had made the intervention to burnish his leadership credentials, Morrison said that Sales wouldn’t make that suggestion because she “knows him better than that”.

“You know I’ve had a principled, consistent position on this issue for as long as I’ve been in public life and longer,” he said. “I’m acting on my own personal convictions here. And people know that about me. And other people who might say that about me don’t know me.”

Asked if he was ambitious to lead the government, Morrison said he was ambitious for “more than 300,000 Australians to get a job this year”.

“As treasurer working with Malcolm, this has been the greatest responsibility and privilege had in my life in public service,” he said. “I love doing it. I love doing this job every day. I’m going to keep doing it to the benefits of all Australians.”