The chief executives of some of Australia’s biggest companies have called on the country’s political leaders to support marriage equality.

Business leaders, including the CEO of Australia’s national airline, Qantas, voiced their support for marriage equality at a panel on Tuesday in central Sydney.

The event, organised by advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality, was titled “Does marriage equality matter to corporate Australia?”

Ann Sherry, CEO of cruise ship operator Carnival Australia, said: “If Australia was Australia Proprietary Limited it would be illegal to discriminate. [But] if you’re in government it’s OK to discriminate.

“That’s why there’s such a crisis of confidence about our political leadership. And that’s not good for any of us.”

A 2014 survey by Crosby Textor found overwhelming support for same-sex marriage in Australia, with 72% in favour, 21% opposed and 7% undecided.

However the majority of federal MPs voted against legislation in 2012 that would allow same-sex couples to marry, with 98 members against and only 24 in support.

Panellists at “Does marriage equality matter to corporate Australia?” on Tuesday 5 May. (From left) Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia; Rodney Croome, CEO of Australian Marriage Equality; Lisa Annese, CEO of Diversity Council Australia; Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas; and Michael Ebeid, CEO of SBS. Photograph: Frank Farrugia/Same Love Photography

The CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, said the company’s slogan “spirit of Australia” reflected a commitment to represent the Australian community in his 28,000-strong staff. That included members with backgrounds from more than 250 different countries and a “huge gay community”.

Joyce said the fact an openly gay man such as himself could be the head of one of the country’s “most iconic brands” reflected Australia’s already progressive nature. But now was the time for Australia to join the 19 other nations that allowed same-sex marriage.

With strong indications a referendum on same-sex marriage in his home country of Ireland would pass on 22 May, Joyce noted of the four nations he and his partner of 17 years claim citizenship of – New Zealand, Britain, Ireland and Australia – only their country of residence continued to deny them the right to marry.



Joyce said showing public support for marriage equality enhanced the brand of consumer companies.

Many of Australia’s biggest companies, including Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, ANZ, Westpac and Foxtel have publicly supported marriage equality.

“I want to be proud to be Australian,” Joyce said, before correcting himself. “I am proud to be Australian and we want to be proud to be gay Australians. Because this is a very important part of who we are, and a very important part of the country saying ‘you’re not in some way equal to the rest of the community’.”

Michael Ebeid, CEO of SBS, said when he was a young person entering the workforce, he had been “terrified” people would discover he was gay. “I wasted so much energy worried if people would find out. If only I could have channelled that into my work.”

Discriminatory laws lead to an “unconscious bias”, said Ebeid, citing colleagues who downplayed the importance of his same-sex relationships. “Even as CEO people still say to me, ‘you’re so lucky you don’t have a wife at home to nag you’. And they know I’ve been in a relationship for over a decade,” he said.

Growing up, young gay people often live with the disapproval of their parents and then enter the workplace with low confidence, Ebeid said. “The law can support this discrimination or help people start on the right foot,” he said, adding Australia was both losing talent and failing to attract overseas talent due to this issue.

While he was saddened by the number of state and federal politicians who only came out in support of marriage equality after leaving politics, he was encouraged to see serving MPs such as shadow treasurer Chris Bowen publicly reverse their opposition to marriage equality.

Ebeid said it was important Australia had another conscience vote on the issue. “I think collectively we, society and business, need to send a strong signal that governments are the laggers here.”

Sherry added: “I think a lot of us in business have worked out you’ve got to be authentic, you’ve got to be open and you’ve got to respect diversity for the world around us to work. And we probably need more acknowledgement, politically, of that.”

In addition to an important moral imperative, Sherry said there there was a business case for creating LGBTQI-friendly work environments. “We want people to be open, engaged and bring their brains to work. Not park a piece of themselves at the front door. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

A fair go, tolerance and diversity were all part of Australia’s “public brand” and supporting marriage equality was the “last piece of the puzzle” required for the country to live up to that reputation, Sherry said.