Coddington Deborah: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Coddington Deborah: Civil Union Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:622;Page:17537] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
: 
 I voted against this bill up until the Committee stage and now I am voting in favour of it. I still stand by the reasons why I voted against it. I think it is discriminatory. I think it is politically correct in its language and in its drafting. I think many of those promoting it are using nauseatingly politically correct language. I would rather have seen a situation where gay people could marry each other in the same way as heterosexual people can and where the only barrier to their marrying each other would be the right of the institution to say no—a church or a celebrant or a venue that might not wish to marry gay people or might not wish to marry heterosexual people. But unfortunately they already cannot do that and they will further be barred from doing that because of human rights legislation. There will be unintended consequences from the legislation because of the banning of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation which we have in the human rights legislation and that legislation I believe should be repealed. 
So I took an all-or-nothing attitude when I voted against this bill. I did not oppose it on the spurious grounds that we have heard—that marriage should be a loving relationship between a man and a woman. There are many marriages between men and women that are anything but loving. I did not oppose the bill on the ground that it does not protect children. There are heterosexual couples who should never be anywhere near children. I have done numerous stories as a journalist on child abuse and the ones who were beaten to death were always beaten to death when they were in the care of people in a so-called loving heterosexual relationship. I have done much research on sex offenders and paedophiles and there is nothing in that research that shows that homosexual men can be likened to paedophiles or sex offenders. They do not prey on children—that is mostly done by heterosexual men and paedophiles. So this bill is not a threat to the fabric of society as many are claiming. 
The damage to children is horrendous if any relationship falls to pieces and most parents I believe do everything they can to prevent the fall-out for children when relationships fall apart whether those parents are gay heterosexual or single. Nobody is perfect. We have heard talk about the next step being gay people being allowed to adopt children. What is wrong with anyone wanting to adopt children? It is better that children are adopted by people who want one so much that they will give it a loving home. 
I am personally painfully aware of the damage that can be done to children when relationships fail and fall apart. It is probably because I know about that damage that the strongest voice I have heard in this debate the voice that has made me rethink the way I am voting is the voice of my own children. I am not saying that they dictate what I do—Lord knows we would all be bankrupt if we did what our children dictated—but my youngest daughter who will be a first-time voter at the next election took huge flak for the fact that I voted against this bill. I tried to explain to her the reasons why I was voting against it. I realised when I went into a discussion with her that it was not about me. I am over 50; this bill is not going to affect me. I might like to marry again or I might not. The point is that I can; I have that choice. She said to me that her friends will not have that choice. Many of her gay friends do not have that choice. They might like to get married in the future. Who knows? They know that this bill is not perfect but it is the best they can have and they might like to have a civil union. Without this bill they cannot have that. 
So I am voting for this bill now. I am also supporting the amendment calling for a referendum so that this issue can go to the country and the country can decide before the bill receives the royal assent. But I am voting for it because I think this is essentially a young person’s issue. It is not about boring old biddies like me. We have our choices. When I sent a text message to my daughter yesterday and told her I would be voting for the bill she sent a message back: “Yea! Well done mum. I’m so proud of you.”