The conscience vote in the Upper House was passed with a margin of 7 votes, where 23 voted for it while 16 opposed the measured. The passage of the controversial Bill came after intense lobbying by Christian groups to overturn the legislation.
In a pre-emptive move before the cloning legislation was debated, Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Dennis Hart wrote to Steve Bracks, the Premier of Victoria, saying, "The deliberate creation and destruction of an embryo for scientific purpose is always unethical and would be an assault on the dignity of the human person at its most vulnerable," reported a Fairfax publication.
The Catholics were joined by other Christians in calling for the State government to reconsider the legislation. Jim Wallace, the ACL Managing Director, said that human life, regardless of age, had value and should not be 'arbitrarily created and destroyed,' no matter what the purpose was.
Reverend Dr. Philip Freier, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, questioned whether it was 'reasonable' for a human life to be created and then terminated. The reverend also warned of the ethical problems that would arise in the future if the cloning bill was passed.
The federal cloning legislation was the catalyst for other states to follow suit, where both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader voted against it.