Liberal Senator Zed Seselja breaks pledge to vote with the postal survey result
Image: Zed Seselja speaking on Sky News in August. Image: Twitter.
Liberal Senator Zed Seselja has come under fire for failing to follow through on a repeated promise to vote for marriage equality if the postal survey returned a Yes result.
The conservative senator responded to a constituent on Facebook in August, saying, “If the people vote yes, I will vote yes.”
A vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, Seselja has defended his abstention from the vote, The Canberra Times has reported.
He stood outside the chamber during the vote alongside fellow Liberals Michaelia Cash and James McGrath as well as Bridget McKenzie of the Nationals.
Seselja is Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs in the Turnbull government.
Prior to the 2016 election, the ACT senator had indicated he would likely abstain if the issue came to a vote, but since promised his vote would reflect the will of the people.
“I’d call on everyone to honour the will of the Australian people as expressed through this plebiscite, so for those of us who are arguing against change, if it goes against us, we should honour it. That’s what I’ll do,” Seselja told Sky News in August.
Defending his abstention, Seselja said he could not support Dean Smith’s legislation.
“Prior to the 2016 election I said that I didn’t support same sex marriage but in the event of a yes vote I would not frustrate the will of the Australian people but would likely abstain,” Seselja said of the broken promise.
“I fought hard to include reasonable protections in the bill but they were all rejected. I could not vote for a bill that would compromise freedom of speech, freedom of religion and parental rights.
“I nevertheless honoured my promise to not frustrate the will of the people and abstained as indicated just a few days before the election,” he said of putting his own beliefs before the will of his constituents.
@ZedSeselja What happened to your clear promise to me, one of your constituents? @lanesainty @BernardKeane @MikeCarlton01 #auspol #ssm pic.twitter.com/QfyMzt3VdK
— Troy Simpson (@TroyPSimpson) November 29, 2017
The ACT’s other senator, Labor’s Katy Gallagher, said she would vote yes but was absent as one of her children was undergoing major surgery.
Two Labor senators, Chris Ketter and Helen Polley, who are tied to the ultra-conservative ‘Shoppies’ union, voted against the bill while three more likely No voters, Don Farrell, Deborah O’Niell and Jacinta Collins, abstained.
Both sides of the chamber were granted conscience votes on the bill.
Seselja said many of his party mates in the House of Representatives “feel very strongly about better protections in the bill” and will seek to pressure Labor when the House resumes sitting on Monday.
The ACT returned a 74 per cent Yes response, the highest of any state or territory in the country.
Hey, don’t feel too bad– we have one of those d*ckheads in WA, too: Andrew Hastie.
Hastie is a liar, a cheat, & as soulless & dirty as the rest of the LNP. This guy didn’t even LIVE here before they elected him— he was squatting in Army housing in Perth! Our last MP died suddenly & they couldn’t even find ONE decent person IN OUR ACTUAL ELECTORATE to serve??? Hastie must’ve had his nose up someone’s bum for a long time, the way they yanked him out of the wings within days.
He was also twice implicated with serious wartime crimes— & yet he managed to get out of it–> TWICE? …hmm….and out of nowhere, the LNP drops him like a turd into our area….Gosh you have to wonder who was pulling those strings? “Dirty deals, done dirt cheap”, as AC-DC used to say.
Oh, & I LOVE how he’s abstaining from DOING HIS JOB– which is to represent the PEOPLE OF CANNING WHO VOTED YES to equality. His reason for not doing his job? “His conscience”.
Hahahahahaha!
Hastie HAS NO conscience! Is this the same “conscience” where he deliberately used Army photos on his campaign posters knowing it was against regulations & when called down to remove them, BY THE ARMY, Hastie REFUSED!? So much for conscience there. No honour, no loyalty, all B.S., ALL OF THE TIME.
Funny, I seem to recall Hastie’s quote: “I’m no longer under their (Army) authority, I’m the Member for Canning and my ultimate boss is the PEOPLE OF CANNING.” Right-O, Mr. Lying jerface. The Army had to sack jerkface —> but did jerkface care? Nope– not at all. He had a better job by then! One which, we now see, fits perfectly with a low-life, lying, hypocritical blow-hard. Yep, a perfect little LNP bigoted dickhead. PS: (Hastie tried to blame the Army, btw. They should be proud of me– I make the Army look good! That, my friends, is the reaction of a personality-disordered narcissist.).
Remember what he said: “I’m no longer under their authority, I’m the Member for Canning and my ultimate boss is the PEOPLE OF CANNING.” The people of Canning voted FOR equality. That, is what Hastie is SUPPOSED to be voting– not his personality-disordered, make-believe-holier-than-thou sh*tty, personal OPINION. You are a LIAR, Mr. Hastie.
It just goes to show that we cannot trust any of our politicians. They say or worse, they Promise one thing and then do the opposite.
It is no wonder our politicians rate below Used Car Salespeople, Insurance People and Real Estate Agents.
They have abandoned any sense of Honour, Decency, Trustworthiness..
They will say anything to get our Votes and then they betray us all – GLTBIQ and the Heterosexual Communities. They simply do not care so long as we vote for them.
Hopefully when the next Federal Election comes around in 2019 the Voters in this pathetic little man’s electorate will punish him and throw him out.
The problem of course is that even if the Voters do Sack him Australia’s hapless Taxpayers will be lumbered with supporting him for the rest of his pathetic life with his massive, fully indexed, majority taxpayer funded pension.
Agree, reluctantly with Addam. It’s not wise to give people like Abetz et al more ammunition that will be twisted and used at some future date. Personally he deserves a kick where it hurts.
The bill has passed. Pursuing people like Zed Seselja will only provide fodder for cries of “victimisation”. Let’s not don the ugly boot that we have known for millennia: rather, let us be gracious in victory, and reach out to people like Zed in hope for the day he might put hatred aside and value actual people above hateful principles.
Alternatively, politicians who make and fail to keep promises should be held to account.
The No campaign’s lies will never end…..