--- title: Australia’s Opposition Party Calls for Same-Sex Marriage Law description: Australia’s opposition party leader Bill Shorten proposed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages canonical: https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-01T12:55:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:46:40.813Z article:section: World og:title: Australia’s Opposition Party Calls for Same-Sex Marriage Law og:description: Australia’s opposition party leader Bill Shorten proposed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages og:url: https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd1fadbbe74abb6/69885258a988ca0c806b2c89/bill-shorten.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bill Shorten Introduces Same-Sex Marriage Bill To Federal Parliament og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Australia’s Opposition Party Calls for Same-Sex Marriage Law twitter:description: Australia’s opposition party leader Bill Shorten proposed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd1fadbbe74abb6/69885258a988ca0c806b2c89/bill-shorten.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Australian Opposition Party Proposes Same-Sex Marriage Bill by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jun 1, 2015 12:55 PM CUT  Leader of the Australian opposition party Bill Shorten introduces the Marriage Equality Bill to the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Camberra on June 1, 2015. Leader of the Australian opposition party Bill Shorten introduces the Marriage Equality Bill to the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Camberra on June 1, 2015.Stefan Postles—Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jun 1, 2015 12:55 PM CUT An Australian political party has put forward a bill that would make same-sex marriage legal down under. Australia’s opposition party leader Bill Shorten proposed a bill on Monday recognizing same-sex marriages making his center-left Labor party the country’s first major political party to back a bill overturning the national ban. The bill’s biggest hurdle comes from the country’s conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is Roman Catholic and like his Liberal party is opposed to marriage equality, reports the _Associated Press_. Rather than social reform, Abbott has said that his government was focused on economic and national security. Despite opinion polls showing that the majority of Australians support gay marriage, gay rights advocates worry that the bill will be overturned by government lawmakers reluctant to give Shorten a victory over Abbott. “Our laws should be a mirror reflecting our great and generous country and our free, inclusive society,” said Shorten as he introduced the bill. Gay rights advocates say that since the Irish vote, Australia has become the last English-speaking developed nation to oppose gay marriage. \[[_Associated Press_](http://news.yahoo.com/australian-opposition-party-propose-gay-marriage-law-002024605.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/"},"headline":"Australian Opposition Party Proposes Same-Sex Marriage Bill","datePublished":"2015-06-01T12:55:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:46:40.813Z","description":"Labor party leader Bill Shorten has proposed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages","url":"https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/","keywords":["Australia","Marriage Equality"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd1fadbbe74abb6/69885258a988ca0c806b2c89/bill-shorten.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fd1fadbbe74abb6/69885258a988ca0c806b2c89/bill-shorten.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Shorten Introduces Same-Sex Marriage Bill To Federal Parliament","caption":"Bill Shorten Introduces Same-Sex Marriage Bill To Federal Parliament","creditText":"Stefan Postles—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/australia/","name":"Australia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3903040/australia-gay-marriage-law/","name":"Australian Opposition Party Proposes Same-Sex Marriage Bill"}}]}] ```