Christine Milne delivered a speech at Lawfest at the University of Tasmania on marriage equality.  

Lawfest is organised by Margaret Shearer in conjunction with Dale Chen, from Elizabeth College and Professor Margaret Otlowski, the Faculty of Law and the School of Government. It has been running for 12 years for Legal Studies teachers and students.

Senator Milne participated in the event and was invited to debate Jim Wallace of the Australian Christian Lobby on the topic of marriage equality. 

Transcript

Subjects: Afghanistan, marriage equality public service job cuts, mining tax, sexism

The Australian Greens send their congratulations to the Tasmanian Lower House for passing the co-sponsored Marriage Equality Bill and becoming the first Australian house of parliament to legislate for marriage equality.

"This is a historic day for Tasmania and I send my heartfelt congratulations to the Tasmanian Government for taking action on this important reform," said Greens' spokesperson for human rights Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

The Australian Greens today welcomed the introduction of the Tasmanian Marriage Equality Bill, co-sponsored by Tasmanian Greens Minister Nick McKim and Premier Lara Giddings.

"It is wonderful to see true leadership being shown by Tasmania, it is now time for Julia Gillard to do the same," said the Greens' human rights spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young today.

"Congratulations to those in Tasmania, particularly the Greens who have fought long and hard for this issue at a state level.

With support for marriage equality at its highest ever it is time for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to move out of the way and stop delaying the inevitable, the Australian Greens said today.

"Debate will start on the Greens' Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010 today and I encourage all Senators to get behind this important reform to achieve full equality for same-sex couples," said Greens' human rights spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

The Australian Greens announced today that they will start debate on Senator Sarah Hanson-Young's marriage equality bill in the Senate this Thursday.

"With support for same-sex marriage at its highest ever now is the right time to kick off serious consideration of my marriage equality bill in the Senate" said Greens' human rights spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who announced the move during an appearance on ABC's Insiders program this morning.

The Greens today said it is disappointing to see the Prime Minister Julia Gillard lining up with Australia Christian Lobby and agreeing to be the key-note speaker at their National Conference in October.

"It is one thing for the Prime Minister to be opposed to Marriage Equality, quite another for her to line up with those anti-gay crusaders of the Australian Christian Lobby", said Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

A new Galaxy poll, commissioned by Australian Marriage Equality, has revealed that support for marriage quality in Australia is at its highest level ever, indicating that the time has come for marriage equality, the Greens said today.

"The time for Marriage Equality has come and the majority of Australians want our Parliament to move on it," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

"The new poll released today shows that more people than ever support changing our laws to allow same-sex couples the right to marry.

A Senate inquiry has today backed the Greens' Marriage Equality (amendment) Bill 2010 and given the parliament clear direction on how and why the law must be amended.

"Today is an historic one for many Australian same-sex couples, their families and friends who have wanted their parliament to know why marriage equality matters," Greens' human rights spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

"They told us they feel like second class citizens, that their mental health has been impaired because their love is still not treated equally under Australia's civil marriage law.

Data from Census 2011 shows more than 1,300 Australian same-sex couples identified as being married last year, indicating they had to tie the knot overseas rather than in Australia, the Greens said today.

"More than 2,600 Australians believe in marriage so much they've travelled abroad because same-sex weddings cannot be performed in Australia," Greens' human rights spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.