Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017
Parliament of Australia
Long title An Act to amend the law relating to the definition of marriage and protect religious freedoms, and for related purposes
Citation	No. 129, 2017
Territorial extent	Australia
Enacted by	Parliament of Australia
Enacted	7 December 2017
Royal assent	8 December 2017
Commenced	9 December 2017
Legislative history
Introduced by	Senator Dean Smith
First reading	15 November 2017
Second reading	28 November 2017
Third reading	29 November 2017
Member(s) in charge	Warren Entsch MP
First reading	4 December 2017
Second reading	7 December 2017
Third reading	7 December 2017
Related legislation
Marriage Act 1961
Keywords
same-sex marriage
Status: Current legislation

The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which legalises same-sex marriage in Australia by amending the Marriage Act 1961 to allow marriage between two persons of marriageable age, regardless of their gender.

Introduced as a private member's bill by Western Australian Senator Dean Smith of the Liberal Party following the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, the bill passed the Parliament on 7 December 2017. It received royal assent on the following day and came into effect on 9 December 2017.^[1]