Pauline Hanson suggests SSM could lead to polygamy and child marriages

Pauline Hanson suggests SSM could lead to polygamy and child marriages

Pauline Hanson has said she doesn’t yet know whether she will support Dean Smith’s marriage equality bill, in a bizarre speech to the Senate today.

She invoked slippery-slope arguments about polygamy and child marriage, saying she is concerned about the “ramifications this is going to have on our society”.

“Gay couples now have about around 11 per cent of children… and there will be an increasing number of children in these relationships,” she said.

“They are kids — let them be children.

“My concern is that in time to come the parliament and it’s members could at any time change to include multiple marriages or marriages of people under a certain age and I don’t believe that will be the will of the people.”

Hanson said she would move an amendment to the bill that would allow civil celebrants to refuse to marry same-sex couples.

“I’m very divided in how I’m going to vote on this. I’m yet to make up my mind,” she said.

She said she will allow a conscience vote for One Nation colleagues.

Hanson’s speech took a bizarre turn as she compared the marriage equality debate to Indigenous rights and claimed Australia has “reverse racism”.

Turning her attention back to marriage, Hanson said the expensive postal survey should not have happened.

Unlike others who have criticised the survey for predictably confirming what polls have shown for years, the One Nation senator complained about the expense “so a couple of people can get married”.

Hanson concluded the rollercoaster speech by saying, “I’ve made myself clear.”

The Senate is continuing debate over details of the marriage reform bill today, after continuing late into the night.

Debate over protection of “religious freedoms” for wedding celebrants and service providers has been pushed to next year to allow legislating marriage equality to be prioritised before Christmas.

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7 responses to “Pauline Hanson suggests SSM could lead to polygamy and child marriages”

  1. Has SSM led to polygamy and child marriages in other countries who have SSM? More importantly, Canada and the state of Massachusetts have had SSM for a long time. Has either of these had a single case of polygamy or child marriages? And polygamy came as a threat from the Mormons, not SSM.

  2. Good ol Pauline- you can scoop the cognitive dissonance from her skull like ice cream – and if she says she doesn’t know which way she will vote, it must be the pinnacle of self delusion. :) because everyone else with half a brain or more, knows already!

  3. In reality, what is wrong with polygamy? Again if people love one another what is wrong with three, four or more.
    The dippy redhead doesn’t realise that the age of consent covers child marriage or exploitation. And it was aledged to be happening before marriage equality, so dream up another BS excuse

  4. In reality, what is wrong with polygamy? Again if people love one another what is wrong with three, four or more.
    The dippy redhead doesn’t realise that the age of consent covers child marriage or exploitation. And it was aledged to be happening before marriage equality, so dream up another BS excuse

  5. How this woman is still in politics is beyond me. If she wasn’t in QLD she wouldn’t have a political career.

  6. Well say what you will about the far right, they don’t hide the fact that they’re idiots. Her reason for opposing change now is that there might be some sort of further change in the far distant future. This woman has sat in Parliament for years and only just worked out that laws can be amended!

    Whether she votes yes or no won’t matter and it won’t affect a single thing in the future despite her silly pretence to the contrary. It’s unconstitutional for her to attempt to commit a future Parliament to a decision or action. Still One Nation lose Senators like I lose my keys because they aren’t known for having much grasp of the constitution.