 for up to two months. Now we'll cross live to the Senate courtyard in Canberra. This is Adam Banton, Andrew Wilkie. Regardless of the agenda or sexuality. And it passed because Republicans and Democrats worked together cooperatively across the parliament to get the legislation through. And as we kick off this year here on the next sitting day, the first private members bill that is going to be introduced to the parliament this year will come from Andrew Wilkie and myself and it will be a bill that will remove discrimination from the Marriage Act in Australia but also make it crystal clear that churches will be under no obligation to marry people if they consider that it would be contrary to their religion or their practices. We'll be moving the bill and we think it's a good bill. We think it's the best of the proposals that's out there but we will not be moving forward to go to a vote immediately. My concern is that if we rush this, we may miss one of the best opportunities we have to see reform but conversely I am confident that if we do this properly, do it in a way that's got the support of people from across the chamber, we are going to see reform in Australia this year. Of course because of the stance that the Labor Party has taken, we now need free-minded coalition members of parliament to come on board and support the bill. I and Andrew will be spending the next couple of months talking to members of the coalition to get members to come and cosponsor our bill. We believe that the best way forward on this is a bill that's cosponsored by members of parliament from all parties and from independence as well. It would be a mistake to rush ahead with debate on this issue because at the moment, given that we know the stand of the coalition until coalition members are granted a free vote, pressing ahead with this simply to get it to a vote would be doomed to failure and I'm also concerned when you look at some of the recent statements from others that we might end up going down the road of civil unions which would be a second class outcome and we don't want to end up there. So I'm very pleased that the first private members bill of the year will be to push for marriage equality in Australian law. I'm very pleased to stand next to Adam and to cosponsor this marriage equality bill. It's obviously a very important bill to do with a very important matter. So important that it's vital that the parliament represents the will of the community on this. It is vital that every member of the parliament is able to follow their conscience when the time comes to vote for this marriage equality bill. Now the Prime Minister to her credit is allowing a conscience vote for members of the ALP. I would remind Tony Abbott that it is Liberal Party policy that any member of the Liberal Party can follow his or her conscience on any vote in the parliament. So in effect the Liberal Party members already have a conscience vote on this and I think it would be very helpful at this point in time for the opposition leader to come out and to affirm his support for that important Liberal Party rule that every member of the Liberal Party can follow his or her conscience on every vote. It is only really a significant issue for members of the opposition front bench but it certainly should not be any issue at all as far as party rules go for a Liberal backbencher to vote in support of marriage equality. Now another important piece of government business will be debated next week and that is my motion which is in fact to protect the rights of the churches because although I feel very supportive very strongly in favour of amending the Marriage Act to allow the marriage of same-sex couples I and I think most of people in favour of not all people in favour of marriage equality would agree that we must be respectful of the rights of the churches and at the end of the day they are private institutions who must retain the right to decide who they marry. So this motion which is up for debate next week and which complements Adam's and my bill will be to get an expression of the parliament or support for the idea that any change to the Marriage Act must not in any way diminish the rights of churches to decide who they will marry. Mr. Vanquist, what Labor is going to introduce the same bill on Monday any Labor MPs who support it are going to respond to the Labor Bill not your bill that bill will have an inbuilt protection for the churches like Mr. Wilkins motion why don't you just cooperate with the Labor Bill and what do you say to those I think you're trying to politic on this issue and get in ahead of the ALP on the same issue. Well look we I think you would know that I mean one of the first things that I did on getting elected was introduce a motion into parliament on this issue and we had the best part of the year debating it and it was something that for me was part of my election campaign in Melbourne it's something that we and Sarah Hansen Young in the Senate have been pushing for for some time but what we've also said is there's no point putting things in and rushing to a vote just to prove a point we want to see reform to the law we the best way we're going to get this through is by cooperation we had a meeting set up this morning with Stephen Jones and he cancelled it I would be quite happy to talk about cosponsorship indeed that's been our invitation from the beginning the best chance we're going to have of getting this through is by everyone working together and that's our point. You've got one bill he's got his own bill coming in on Monday already there seems to be a fight for the for the honours on this. Well my concern is that I want to make sure that that we avoid this happening which is that a bill goes up for a vote sooner than is the best time because it's done before Liberal MPs are allowed a conscience vote we lose it and then the Labor Party steps up and says together with the Liberal Party and says let's now move to civil unions and entrench two tiers of citizenship in this country. If you were cynical you might say that might be what some that's what some people want we want to make sure that that doesn't happen and the best way of doing that is by having a bill I'm going to propose that the bill be referred to the Senate inquiry so that we can look at our bill look at Stephen Jones's bill look at the other green's bill in the Senate and there can then be a discussion about which is the best bill and if it's the case that we all come together and get behind one bill I'm less concerned about who's it is and who it is who's moving it I just want to make sure that we see reform in this area and that we don't see grandstanding we don't see things push to a vote prematurely and we don't lose the best chance we've got Mr Ben has the option of voting with its conscience then who in the coalition are you lobbying and who do you expect to cross the floor have you spoken to anyone yet I don't want to name names but I've spoken to people and I expect Andrew has as well in the coalition who believes that an individual should have the right to do what they like in their own private life provided it doesn't impact on someone else I mean it's a basic tenet of the Liberal Party to believe in freedom of choice and there are those who would be inclined to support the bill they're potentially hamstrung at the moment because Tony Abbott contrary to the position of his party is attempting to coerce all the MPs to vote in a particular way because he sees some political advantage out of that now that is wrong is contrary to what the Liberal Party should do and I'm hopeful that after the Senate inquiry when we can perhaps allay some of the doubts and we can explore all the issues and have a look at what the best way forward is some of those people who privately support us will turn out publicly to support us if I can see your colleagues or handsome young on this is it not a bit odd for the Greens to have two bills on one issue no we're moving a bill in the Senate and we're moving a bill in the House and the the bill in the House picks up the point that Andrew has made about enshrining the protection for the churches and so it's different to the one that's in the Senate at the moment and but we believe that's the one that's got the best chance of support. Has made you believe that the Labor Bill will be voted on immediately there was some suggestion that there will be a bit of a delay why have you moved on this so abruptly? Well I'm concerned that there might be some who want to push it to a vote quickly I mean I wonder why there was an announcement between the government whip and the opposition whip that they're preparing a bill to get ready for civil unions surely if the Labor Party was serious about it they'd be getting behind their own private members bill so I'm concerned that to make sure that we do what's got the best chance of success not something that's just about pushing this off the radar so it's out of the way before an election here. With a conscience vote how many MPs do you think you could get across the floor on a conscience if they did have a conscience vote? What's your assessment of the numbers there? I think we'd be close to being able to pass the bill. Only close, no you don't know. That's why I say I think give it a couple of months allow the Senate Inquiry to report that may allay some fears I think that might then bring a few more over the line and I'm optimistic that by the end of the year we could see the law changed. Why not wait for the outcome of the Senate Inquiry into your party's own bill and then amend that bill if necessary to add the protections for churches? Well because this way we are able to put our bill before the Senate Inquiry and the Senate Inquiry can look at it and decide whether that's the best way to go. But have you made up your mind having your vote on the private health insurance bill? Yes I indicated yesterday that I'm leaning towards supporting the means test to the private health insurance. Now I think it was July last year when this was first before the parliament or expected to come before the parliament I said I would support it then because six months has passed I have needed to look afresh at all of the evidence and the new evidence and also to be mindful of the feedback I've received from constituents in my electorate since then I've almost completed that process and I can say that I am inclined to support it as I said I would do six months ago but I am not able to confirm my support just yet I've still got a bit more material to wade through the health minister provided me with some more modelling and figures just last night. No I wouldn't support the Greens move to split the bill because I don't see any contradiction in the two parts as much as there are two parts currently. I think the move to increase the surcharge on high income earners without private health insurance is entirely consistent with the move to means test the rebate for those who do take out private health insurance so I'm looking at the bill as it is and I'm inclined to support it as it is I can't confirm that just yet I hope to soon and I wouldn't support a Greens move to split the bill I don't see the need to do that. When you say you're leaning towards is it an 80% lean a 60% lean what sort of angle are we on here? We're almost there. Have you made your mind up about the AB double C bill? You were last night in negotiations with the government about potentially passing it. Continuing to have discussions with the government about the bill to go some way towards fixing the appalling situation we have where workers in the building industry have less rights than accused criminals. I think we're at the point where when you have a number of myself and a number of other cross pensions have made their position clear we're probably at the point where if the McCarthyist era coercive powers remain in the legislation it'll be because the Labor Party wants them to. I of course want to see meaningful reform but I just want to make sure it's not a rebadging exercise I'm waiting on the government to get back to us about some issues and we'll take it from there and I expect those discussions will continue over the next few days. I intend, unless something changes between now and the vote, I intend to support the Greens amendment because I agree with the Greens there should not be coercive powers with a body such as this it's not a police body it's not a crime and conduct commission you know it's a body to look at conduct in the building industry it is not the place to have coercive powers so I will support the Greens attempt to remove those powers but having said that at the end of the day I broadly support the government's move to reform this I think that it's the decision to set up the AB double C under the Howard era was was a bad decision and I'll be happy to see it wound back. Thanks very much. I think we're done thank you very much. So that was the Greens MP Adam Bandt and the independent MP Andrew Wilkie live from Parliament House in Canberra and now we