Western Australian Liberal MP Ian Goodenough has accused colleague Senator Dean Smith and other MPs pushing for a free vote on marriage equality of using ‘kamikaze tactics’.

Speaking to the ABC the member for Moore which covers Perth’s northern suburbs Goodenough said he had concerns about the proposed bill on marriage equality because it didn’t address how same sex couples might go about having children in future.

Goodenough said his concerns focussed on children, “more specifically the impossibility of having children without involving a third person, and related issues such as commercial surrogacy, reproductive technologies and the prospect of taxpayer funding of these services”.

The MP said legislators should consider what happens in same sex relationships after a couple get married.

“As legislators we must consider what happens after the wedding ceremony and the honeymoon is over — what are the public policy implications for our health system, and every other area [in which] the Government provides services?” Goodenough said.

Goodenough has previously spoken at rallies rallies about his opposition to same sex couples being allowed to wed.

“We need to protect the children from complicated relationships that will lead to mental and emotional damage.” Goodenough told a Unity Australia rally in 2015.

OIP Staff