Labor senators call for party to block plebiscite legislation

Labor senators call for party to block plebiscite legislation

A call-to-action has been made from within the Labor Party, with two senators imploring their party to block legislation required for the marriage equality plebiscite. This coincides with increased momentum from outside interests who share the objective.

Senators Lisa Singh and Louise Pratt advocate a free parliamentary vote over a plebiscite and believe Labor should too.

The women spoke to The Guardian about the reasoning behind their internal push and why the current trajectory isn’t worth pursuing.

“It’s a waste of money, it’s unnecessary and parliament should decide,” Singh, the newly re-elected senator from Tasmania, said.

“I’m not for the plebiscite, so I naturally feel we shouldn’t be supporting it

“If we take a position as a caucus I’d argue in the caucus we should block it. If it’s a conscience vote, I would be standing against it.”

Pratt noted that a parliamentary vote is an inevitable process regardless.

“Even with a plebiscite, the substantive question of legalising same-sex marriage is still one that needs to be resolved by parliament,” the senator from Western Australia said.

“The plebiscite is an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and expense.”

The two Labor senators aren’t alone, with influential independent Nick Xenophon also weighing in on the matter.

“I think the parliament should decide this. I’m yet to be convinced of the need for a plebiscite,” Xenophon told The Guardian.

He was of the belief that the money was better spent in other areas, including suicide prevention in regional areas.

This comes as Rodney Croome, the director of Marriage Equality Australia, resigned from his post in order to direct his efforts in preventing a plebiscite from happening, rather than accepting it as an inevitability.

“Those who believe a plebiscite is inevitable and a successful parliamentary vote impossible betray a lack of political imagination,” Croome wrote in The Guardian.

“The history of marriage equality shows how quickly and unexpectedly the political situation can improve and there’s every reason to think such change is possible in the future.”

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2 responses to “Labor senators call for party to block plebiscite legislation”

  1. If the plebiscite happens and fails, then we know who to blame, don’t we? Not the arch-conservatives who have planned the downfall of the ‘marriage’ situation all along but the gay activists that that have been hell-bent on ‘marriage’ and nothing else. If NATIONAL civil unions for ALL de fact couples had been pursued, such legislation would have had a clear passage through the Federal Parliament. The religious lobby which is so powerful in this country ( Protestants are not the one-brand ‘easy to beat’ Catholics of Ireland) would not have had a leg to stand on. The plebiscite will bring a NO vote, it will be not about our relationships but about the hatred of homosexuals in this country. We are only ‘tolerated’ in this society. Laws voted on BY the Parliaments have brought protections but had ‘the issue’ of homosexuality been put to a Referendum would it have passed? I doubt it and for those of us ‘realists’ who do not live in Inner Sydney or Melbourne we know what this country is really like! It grieves me to see what those in New Zealand have achieved by using their brains and by being patient as to what is required to achieve a goal. The ‘Marriage’ lobby have alienated so many on the way and give the public a ballot box, paid for by $160 million dollars and there will be a big ‘NO’ I have always voted but my partner and I of being together for 33 years are not going to be a part to such a plebiscite and will pay the $20.00 fines. What an insult to have our relationships ‘Voted On’ and judged by the Australian electorate. Put the ‘Marriage Equality’ book title back on the shelf and wait until the time is right but I think that is now not going to happen! Fools! Some of us have enough mental health issues to deal with after a lifetime of experiencing societal homophobia, than being ‘set up’ for something we have neither asked for or supported.

  2. The Labor senators are right to demand the plebiscite be stopped. To be clear, a few centimetres of air is all that protects you from some who have spent a lifetime fighting to stop the existence of GLBTI people. It puts bullies in reach if victims. Some will have convictions for violence, some will have been done for vilification. I am not going through the indignity of some sort of walk of shame to vote, and it is clear that like in Ireland, confrontation is inevitable. I am not convinced a plebiscite is worth the harm, especially when LNP figures have rigged the outcome declaring hey will not support it., no matter who votes for what.