Queensland CEOs back marriage equality
A group of CEOs of major Queensland companies have publicly backed marriage equality, signing Australian Marriage Equality’s petition calling for same-sex marriage.
With two thirds of Australians supporting marriage equality, more businesses are taking a stand on the issue. Alan Joyce, head of Qantas, was among a group of prominent CEOs who recently signed a letter to the government calling for marriage equality in Australia.
“A happy workforce is a productive one,” said Australian Marriage Equality on their website.
“To remain competitive and to attract top talent globally organisations—and nations—must create a fair and respectful environment for all.”
In Queensland, prominent CEOs including Suncorp’s Michael Cameron, Bank of Queensland’s Jon Sutton and Aurizon’s Andrew Harding have spoken publicly in support of marriage equality.
“Suncorp has written to Marriage Equality Australia seeking that everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, be given the right to equal opportunities,” said Cameron.
“Aurizon believes that a fair and equitable society, free of discrimination, allows all employees to function at their best,” said Harding.
More than 1,200 Australian businesses have signed Australian Marriage Equality’s petition, arguing that marriage equality makes good business sense.
Businesses (particularly those dealing with tourists or international clients) are increasingly embarrassed by Australia’s lack of civil rights for gay couples compared with other modern western nations. It’s simply business common sense to get on board with lobbying for marriage equality, just as it was business common sense 30 years ago to get on board with boycotting South Africa’s apartheid regime which also ignored modern civil rights. I thought the Liberal Party was the party of business and free enterprise but I must have gotten that wrong somewhere.
You are right Dave, the Liberal party is not what it was anymore! That is why I left the party years ago! Remember it is the party of lockout laws, banning greyhounds, introducing the metadata retention scheme, banning fun, banning safe schools, banning gay marriage back in 2004 and not forgetting that criminally letting big corporations keep millions of dollars in tax havens overseas! It should really be called the not so liberal party! Remember it was the liberal party that voted against the legalisation of gay sex in 1984, voted against an equal age of consent back in 2003, voted against gay adoption, relationship register and surrogacy in 2010! Wow the Liberal party are no so Liberal after all!