Tony Abbott has declared gay marriage will strengthen Australia’s social fabric – despite vigorously campaigning against letting same-sex couples tie the knot.
The former prime minister has also told parliament he looked forward to attending the upcoming wedding of his lesbian sister Christine Forster.
In his first major speech since the Yes campaign triumphed in the postal vote survey, Mr Abbott hailed same-sex marriage as something that will in fact add to conservative values.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott says gay marriage will add to conservative values
‘If indeed same-sex marriage does turn out to mean that there are more stable and lasting relationships in this country, gay as well as straight, then it will have strengthened our social fabric,’ he said.
‘And become something, once established, a conservative won’t just accept but will actually support.’
Mr Abbott’s sister Christine Forster, a Liberal City of Sydney councillor, is expected to marry her long-time partner Virginia Edwards in February following a four-year engagement and a postal survey that overwhelmingly supported their right to wed.
The high-profile couple, who met each other on Sydney’s North Shore, campaigned for gay marriage, along with Mr Abbott’s daughter Frances, who is now engaged to former Olympic rower Sam Loch.
The Liberal member for Warringah congratulated the Yes campaign on its landslide victory while speaking in parliament
Mr Abbott also said he looked forward to attending the upcoming wedding of his lesbian sister Christine Forster (pictured)
‘Gay people, their parents, their siblings, their children, their wider family and their friends should saviour this success and again I congratulate the Yes campaign for its victory,’ Mr Abbott said.
The former Liberal leader, who trained to become a Catholic priest during the 1980s, has made no secret of his opposition to same-sex marriage and told parliament on Monday that he would make sure the voices of four million Australians who voted No in the postal survey were heard.
‘They are not bigots, they are simply people respectful of traditions handed down immemorial and slow to change them,’ he said.
The former prime minister again claimed credit for the voluntary survey, reminding parliament the plebiscite was an Abbott government idea supported by his bitter successor Malcolm Turnbull.
He also praised the respectful debate among those who had strong views on the issue, after his Sydney Northern Beaches electorate of Warringah delivered an overwhelming 75 per cent Yes vote for redefining marriage, which was well above the national Yes vote average of 62 per cent.
Tony Abbott said both sides of the same-sex marriage debate had been largely respectful
Despite his opposition, Mr Abbott will support a cross-party bill to allow same-sex couples, such as his sister Christine and her partner Virginia Edwards (pictured), to marry
‘I am proud of my fellow ‘No’ campaigners because they gave marriage the good defence that it deserved, but I do congratulate the ‘yes’ campaign on their victory,’ he said.
‘There was a lot said beforehand about how divisive this debate would be but from where I stood there was little rancour, no hysteria and no abuse, certainly there was none from the ‘no’ campaign.’
Despite his opposition, Mr Abbott will support a cross-party bill to allow same-sex couples to marry which the Senate passed last week.
But he moved a small amendment that would have the House of Representatives note ‘that it is vital that individuals and entities are not disadvantaged nor suffer any adverse effects as a result of conscientiously holding a particular view of marriage’.
Mr Abbott said further amendments on religious freedoms should be addressed with the bill to ensure there were no gaps in the protection of fundamental freedoms.