Eric Abetz (Graham Denholm/Getty)

Australian Government Senator Eric Abetz has claimed that gay people can be “cured”, in a debate on equal marriage.

Senator Abetz, the former Leader of the Government in the Senate and a member of Malcolm Turnbull’s right-wing coalition, made the extraordinary claim while appearing on Sky News to discuss same-sex marriage.

He insisted: “The reality is, and evidence has been given to the Senate Committees, where people who have been in gay relationships have then gone into heterosexual relationships and I believe that can happen, courtesy of the evidence.

Asked by the stunned host if gay people should ‘try’ to be straight, he said: “Look, it is up to the individual as to what they want to be and how they want to express themselves. That is up to them in a free society.”



He insisted: “I think we all know people that have been in a straight relationship that have gone into a gay relationship, and people doing the opposite.

“The fact that both occur within our society is established fact and why we can’t report on the two-way traffic is something that has bemused me somewhat and I think it’s indicative of certain bias in the media that they only want one side of the equation spoken about.”

Mr Abetz also lashed out at business leaders for pressing the government to make progress on equal marriage.

.@SenatorAbetz: there’s evidence that some people in gay relationships can also enter into straight relationships https://t.co/wsoFeW3X9a pic.twitter.com/DqzUQH5D7p — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 4, 2017



He said: “Along with free speech comes the right to be critical of CEOs running politically correct campaigns, in effect with shareholders’ money, in circumstances which it means the cost of their product must be that much more expensive to the consumer of Australia because these campaigns don’t come for free.

“Ultimately the Australian consumer pays in circumstances where, as you would know and your viewers would know, I personally believe that any change to the definition of marriage would not be for the benefit of the children of our nation.”

He added: “People will feel uncomfortable either way with campaigns of this nature… I think there has to be some sensitivity.

“I would have thought let’s say the CEO of Qantas or the CEO of a commercial bank might actually be focused on providing the best possible outcome for their consumers rather than engaging in political campaigns, which clearly do divide the community.”

Abetz has previously claimed that people who are ‘cured’ of homosexuality should be celebrated in public.

The politician also previously suggested that even if the public votes for equal marriage in a referendum or plebiscite, he would try to block it in Parliament.

He added: “There will be people in the parliament who could not support the outcome of a plebiscite whichever way it went.”

His brother Peter Abetz is also a politician, and has compared same-sex parenting to stealing children from Aborigines.