Australian CEOs to send Turnbull a letter urging marriage equality
Image: Photo: Twitter via @TurnbullMalcolm
A letter has been penned by the chief executives from some of Australia’s biggest companies urging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to legislate marriage equality, according to recent reports.
In a report by The Australian, the letter will be sent to Turnbull before parliament resumes next week and will ask him to pass same-sex and gender marriage so that the government is able to continue focusing on the economy.
The 20 signees include leaders from companies such as Telstra, Qantas, and Apple, along with legal teams, accountancy firms, and sporting bodies.
The draft letter suggests customers are becoming more selective and tend to opt for products and services from companies that better represent their values.
“Enabling love, committed couples to be married, regardless of their sexual orientation, will contribute to a stronger economy and a more inclusive Australia,” it allegedly reads.
The letter suggests that employees, business, and customers would benefit from same-sex and gender marriage being legalised.
“[Consumers] are becoming more discerning and are selecting products and services from companies that better represent their values,” it reads.
It also says the move would help to position Australia as having a more inclusive reputation which would help “attract international talent and foreign investment.”
After Turnbull’s proposed marriage equality plebiscite was rejected by the Senate, his position was that the issue would be shelved in this term of parliament.
The ANZ and Commonwealth banks, SBS and Telstra, Apple and IBM, Lendlease, AGL Energy, the Business Council of Australia, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wesfarmers chief executives are listed on the letter asking Turnbull to abandon his plebiscite policy.
I like Malcolm Turnbull but at the same time am very disappointed in him. He has always said he supported same gender marriage. He tied himself into homophobe Tony Abbott’s absurd Plebiscite – Abbott knew, as we all do or should, that a Plebiscite is Not Binding on any Government. Even if the ALP had allowed the enabling legislation to pass the Senate and it had been carried by 100% of the Voters we can be sure that Homophobe Abbott would simply have chosen to ignore it. Why Turnbull tied himself to Abbott’s phony promise is anyone’s guess. All we can be sure of is if Turnbull had scrapped the idea – as so many, including many of us in the GLBTIQ Community – wanted he would immediately have been pilloried by the ALP, which stopped the legislation from passing – and the Greens for “Another Broken Coalition Promise’.
Turnbull should simply grab the bull by it’s dick and bring on the legislation to change the SECULAR Australian Marriage Act and give all MPs & Senators a Free Vote. If, and this given the number of red-necks, bigots, homophobes in the two major parties (ALP & Coalition) this is in doubt, the legislation had passed it would have had no impact on any religious business – Catholic, Anglican, Salvo, Islamic, Jewish or any sects connected to any of them for, because of the principle of the Division of State and Religions, they would not be forced to perform such marriages. That said, we can Guarantee that after a whole most of them would start performing those marriages because there is a whole heap of CASH to be made out of them!
If in bringing on the Legislation Turnbull got dumped then so be it and he could hold his head up high for standing up for what he believes in. Mind you, just whom they would replace him with is anybody’s guess because whilst the Homophobic Tony Abbott remains in Parliament no-one would feel safe in the job. Abbott doesn’t seem to be able to accept the fact that the Voters would never, ever accept this most dishonest of all politicians back in the top job.