Shorten told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he’d prefer the issue had never started but that it was the right thing to do to stop it from exploding and being exploited by those who wanted to turn it into a divisive culture war.
“I’m sure my instinct to defuse ugly culture wars is right,” he said.
“There are many people who feel the word ‘mother’ is special and worthy and there are others who feel their identity is not included – each has a legitimate point of view.
“We just need to be better at not having to have one view at the expense of the other.
“However you come to motherhood – it’s precious. It’s not a label, it is imbued with meaning … and for people who choose to identify in other ways they should have that option too.
“Cancelling one doesn’t help the cause of diversity and tolerance.”
Shorten said the terms mother and father were also important for migrant families who are unfamiliar with gender-neutral language.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said Shorten should reconsider the intervention.
Shorten asked Bandt to explain what he didn’t like about the status quo of the three options: birth mother, biological father, or other, followed by self-identification.
Source: Bill Shorten was ‘trying to shut down a culture war’ over gender-neutral language