A federal Liberal MP has asked why, if supporters of same-sex marriage say it's all about love, a person wouldn't marry their children or siblings.
"I love my siblings, I love my children, I love my parents, but does that mean that I should marry them?" Dennis Jensen said in parliament on Monday.
The backbencher said proponents of same-sex marriage made a fundamental error in believing marriage was only about love.
If the debate was just about love, why were multiple marriages not accepted, he posed.
"Why not polygamy, polyandry?"
And why was there a ban on the marriage of siblings, he asked.
"Apart from the yuck factor, that is our natural genetic pre-disposition of these sorts of relationships due to our innate knowledge of the genetic problems they'd cause, why not allow incestuous marriage if one or both parties agree to be sterilised?"
"How about the love of, say, two sisters who have lived together for most of their lives? Should that be called marriage?
Or, he asked, does there have to be sex involved to constitute marriage?
Dr Jensen admitted that he found bringing up the ideas "distasteful", but said questions need to be asked.
The staunch opponent of same-sex marriage argued the institution is about procreation and providing a mother with the security that a father will be there for the child's upbringing.
He also argued change isn't inevitable, denying there is an inextricable march of history.
"Consider for instance communism, once seen as inevitable, now consigned to the dustbin of history," he said.
Instead of changing the definition of marriage, there should be a new defined union based on love, he said.
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