Bill Shorten confronted by Anglican minister

An Anglican Minister has confronted Opposition Leader Bill Shorten this morning and accused him of using inappropriate language when describing people who are opposed to allowing same sex couples to wed.

The Reverend Ian Powell from St Mathew’s Church in Wannisiassa in the ACT stopped the opposition leader outside a service to mark the start of the new parliament.

Reverend Powell said the Labor leader should you use better language when describing people who weren’t in favour of marriage equality. Powell said he had been disappointed by comments Shorten made during the election campaign.

“You described people who weren’t in favour of changing the definition of marriage as haters who come out from under rocks. Can I ask you not to speak like that?” Powell asked.

Shorten said people of faith can be opposed to marriage equality, but some people who object to marriage equality have homophobic attitudes.

Powell later told reporters that he believed the nation’s political leaders need to lead the way in showing respect to people on all sides of the debate.

During the election campaign Shorten commented on his belief that a plebiscite was unnecessary and how it could lead to hate speech in Australia. His comments came after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

“I don’t believe that people’s relationships and love for each other need to be submitted to a public opinion poll. And I think we’ve seen two terrible events in the last week which show that hate and extremism does exist in modern societies,” Shorten said.

“I don’t want to give the haters a chance to come out from underneath the rock and make life harder for LGBTI people.”

OIP Staff