SENATOR LOUISE PRATT

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR UNIVERSITIES

SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EQUALITY

SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA

SCOTT MORRISON IS NOT ON THE SIDE OF THE LGBTI COMMUNITY

Many LGBTI Australians have reached out to tell me their concerns about Scott Morrison’s appointment as Prime Minister. I share their concerns. 

He defended and praised Israel Folau when he said that gay people were going to hell, saying he had “shown a lot of strength of character”.

Scott Morrison was a vocal opponent of Marriage Equality. He supported the divisive postal survey as a way of obstructing our path to marriage equality.

He then campaigned actively for the No case and voted “No” during the postal survey.

To add insult to injury he supported amendments to the Bill to allow for discrimination against LGBTI people within the Marriage Act. He then went on to abstain from the vote – ignoring the will of the Australian people and indeed, the will of the people within his own electorate.

Scott Morrison was one of only a handful of MPs to abstain from the vote. He was joined by 8 other MPs including Andrew Hastie, Tony Abbott & Kevin Andrews. This is the same group of conservative MPs behind the push to replace Malcolm Turnbull in the top job.

The LGBTI community should hold concerns about the influence these and other hard right Liberal and National MPs hold inside the Morrison Government.

The LGBTI community can never be complacent. While we have achieved Marriage Equality, the growing conservative control in the Liberal Party means we could see the reversal of the rights we have fought so long and hard for quickly taken away.