Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyAugust 22nd, 2016
For the past few years, Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his predecessor, Tony Abbott, have been promising for more than a year to hold a plebiscite in 2016 on same-sex marriage. Turnbull, who has refused a free vote in Parliament, was narrowly re-elected on that pledge. Now it looks like that vote won’t happen until February 2017 at the earliest.
The Turnbull government will push back the date of the proposed same-sex marriage plebiscite until February 2017, breaking a flagship pledge. The Prime Minister had said he wanted the vote to be held this year.
However a spokesperson for Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Media that Special Minister of State, Scott Ryan, received advice last week from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) advising the government to push the vote back.
“The government has always said that a decision on same-sex marriage will be made by a vote of all Australians in a national plebiscite to be held as soon as practicable,” the spokesperson said.
“That commitment has not changed. Late last week, the AEC provided advice to the Special Minister of State that strongly recommended against the conduct of a plebiscite this calendar year.”
Labor and Greens, who oppose a plebiscite and call for a free vote in Parliament, have attacked the announcement as “another broken promise by Malcolm Turnbull“:
“Mr Turnbull is willing to waste taxpayers’ money and provide a platform for hate campaigns, all because he doesn’t have the guts to put a vote to Parliament,” Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said.
“Let’s just get on with it. Parliament should do its job and deal with a marriage equality bill, with all parties afforded a free vote.”
An analysis published by the Sydney Morning Herald shows that if Turnbull would allow a free vote in Parliament, it could pass both houses:
The analysis found at least 84 lower house MPs and 41 senators in the new Parliament would vote in favour of marriage equality if a free vote were granted – enough to succeed in both chambers.
“Marriage equality enjoys clear majority support in both houses of Parliament,” said long-time gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome. “If the Coalition allowed a free vote, marriage equality could pass tomorrow and the nation could move on.”
… Mr Croome said the number of supportive lower house MPs could be as high as 87, including the Coalition’s Jason Falinski, Jane Prentice and Melissa Price. “Either way, it’s a strong majority,” he said.
The vote appears tighter in the Senate, but marriage equality advocates counted 41 locked-on supporters, including all nine Greens and the three NXT senators. Thirty-nine votes are required for a majority.
Australian Marriage Equality chairman Alex Greenwich concurred with those numbers but warned a “stalemate” could occur if the plebiscite was blocked in the Senate and the Coalition then refused to grant a free vote.
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