A series of conservative amendments to the same-sex marriage bill have been voted down by large margins in the Senate, defeated by a powerful coalition of Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Derryn Hinch, and a handful of government senators.



The amendments would have added far-reaching exemptions into the bill, including the right for all celebrants to refuse to solemnise gay weddings on religious or conscientious grounds and legal protections for people who don't believe in same-sex marriage or think gay relationships are wrong.

Their decisive defeat is a considerable victory for the "yes" campaign and LGBTI advocates, who feared opponents of same-sex marriage would try and insert clauses into the bill that would roll back anti-discrimination law.

A day and a half of speeches on the bill itself wrapped up around lunchtime with a heartfelt speech from attorney general George Brandis. The Senate waved through some uncontroversial technical amendments to change the language in several other pieces of legislation to recognise the changing definition of marriage – and then turned to consider five amendments proposed by Liberal senators James Paterson and David Fawcett.



Paterson and Fawcett made the case for each amendment, backed up by a group of staunch opponents to same-sex marriage, including Eric Abetz, Ian Macdonald, and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

But their arguments that the amendments were necessary to reassure "no" voters and protect various freedoms were met by staunch rebuttals from Liberal senator Dean Smith, Labor senate leader Penny Wong, Greens senator Janet Rice, and others. And when it came to voting, the latter group prevailed, bringing a majority to the chamber at the ringing of the bells again and again.

