David Norris (Independent)

All right. That is fine. I am very happy to leave it at what the Minister had to say. I cannot speak for other people but I am a humble and totally imperfect member of the Anglican communion so I doubt if I can accurately be termed an aggressive secularist. However, I believe in the separation of church and state and just as I believe the state should be separated from the church so the church should be separated from the state. It is an equal position and I believe in equality. Senator Walsh acknowledged, very charmingly and honestly, that in this instance he simply does not believe in equality. I do not think I misinterpret him because he said he did not believe in marriage equality or that the two should be equal. He stated he does not believe in equality and on that point I beg to differ with him. However, despite the various imprecations, I hope I am still allowed to express this view in the House. I shall not speak on this amendment again and hope it comes to a vote shortly because there are a very large number of amendments.