Turnbull not yet a marriage supporter
Federal Wentworth MP Malcolm Turnbull is still not a supporter of same-sex marriage despite more than 72 percent of respondents in a survey of his electorate indicating their support on the issue.
Turnbull has publicly stated his support for same-sex civil unions in the past. Marriage equality advocates were contacted by journalists last week who had heard a rumour that Turnbull would declare his support in a story in The Wentworth Courier.
But that did not materialise. When the Star Observer contacted Turnbull to ask if he had been persuaded on the issue, he could only say, “I am taking it all on board and discussing it with my colleagues”.
Turnbull said he had been impressed by the quality of the responses to the survey.
“The survey was very emphatic and the quality of the submissions which people wrote were very high and, in many cases, really inspiring,” he said.
When asked what he would do with the survey, Turnbull said the results were “important as a barometer of community opinion,” which would be “referenced when the debate is brought before the House, possibly later this year” — an apparent reference to legislation which the Greens have pledged to bring forward.
More than 72 percent of nearly 2500 respondents supported same-sex marriage, while only 16 percent supported civil unions. Seven percent opposed any recognition and 3 percent opposed same-sex marriage but did not express a view on civil unions.
Many high-profile Australians took part in the survey including the former Liberal NSW Premier, Nick Greiner, who wrote that marriage equality was ”self-evidently a matter of justice [which] in no way stops religions or individuals acting in accord with their conscientious views”.
Former Australian Medical Association president Dr Kerryn Phelps wrote that civil unions instead of marriage would be insulting to same-sex couples.
“I would not personally get ‘civil-unioned’, just as I suspect the majority of mixed gender couples wanting to marry would resist being forced to call their relationship a civil union rather than a marriage.”
St Vincents Hospital’s Dr Alex Wodak wrote there would be public health benefits from marriage equality.
“I have spent the last 30 years in efforts to try and reduce the harms of HIV. We should also do everything we can to help gay couples stay together to protect public health,” he wrote.
Many of those who opposed same-sex marriage cited religious arguments or wrongly believed religious groups would be compelled to marry same-sex couples.
what hope do we ever stand then ?
I suspect that Mr Turnbull supports same-sex marriage but he will not declare his hand on this yet while there is still a chance he can wrest the leadership back from the mad monk. A lot of internal polling is telling the Liberal Party that they will win the election in a landslide next time around if someone more moderate (like Turnbull) is at the helm. Abbott’s days (and hopefully the Liberal Party’s current ignorance to this issue) are numbered.
My finance and I met with Malcolm and discussed marriage equality. We also spoke about the political reality of passing such a bill, and the reality is that it will be tough, but possible. We also talked about whether a “civil unions” bill as a compromise would be acceptable as a move forward on the issue. We stated that we were totally opposed to a second-class mimic of marriage (civil unions) and wanted full equality. As we all expect this marriage equality bill to be made a conscience vote by both Labor and Coalition parties, I would expect Malcolm, after asking all his electorate to give feedback and subsequently getting 72% support for marriage equality, that he would vote in favour of it. To not vote for it would be turning his back on his electorate and the GLBTQI community of which he has personally supported for years. We now call for his principled political support at a time when we would need his vote the most.
Malcolm and the rest of the Liberals have no intention of doing anything about gay marriage while the Mad monk is in the leader’s seat.
The Liberals stopped being a party of social conscience about 32 seconds after John Howard took control in 1995. They don’t seem to have recovered from the HUGE step to the right that they took at that point in time and Malcolm Turnbull’s response to over 70% of his constituemts’ views is simply evidence of this reality.
They are content to let Labor tear themselves to bits over same-sex marriage. The ALP National Conference is coming and the blood-letting on the floor of the conference will be ugly on a number of fronts with our legal and moral rights to equality being just one of a number of big battles.
Malcolm was elected by his constituents to represent their views in parliament, and his constituents, myself included, have unequivocally made their views known on this subject. Yet still he is unconvinced? Perhaps Mr Greiner with his persuasive views would make a more effective federal member?
Time to come out of the closet Malcolm Turnbull!