Liberals decide to reintroduce already failed plebiscite and LGBTI people are over it
Image: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
After a partyroom meeting yesterday the Turnbull government has decided it will make another attempt to push for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, after a handful of MPs advocating for a free vote were voted down by their colleagues.
Only seven Liberal MPs voted to abandon the plebiscite in favour of a free vote, with four times as many against, over the course of a two-hour meeting.
Most MPs agreed to place pressure back onto Labor and the Senate crossbench who helped to block the plebiscite late last year.
If it fails – again – the government has said it is sure it can legally conduct a voluntary postal ballot without legislation, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
A postal plebiscite will reportedly cost over $40 million.
A number of rogue MPs who have pushed for a free vote will advocate for a marriage equality bill that was drafted by Senator Dean Smith, with four Liberal MPs needing to cross the floor in voting for the bill for it to be successful.
Smith has called a postal plebiscite “useless” and “a D-grade response to a defining A-grade social issue”.
Liberal MP Warren Entsch said all he wanted was a vote in parliament, the same as on other issues including when the Marriage Act was changed in 2004.
“That’s all I want and I will respect the outcome of that vote,” said Entsch.
Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm said marriage equality advocates should consider the numbers before rejecting the idea of a plebiscite.
“I am not at all confident it will get through parliament on a free vote, whereas I am totally confident it will be accepted after a plebiscite,” he said.
Co-Chair of Australian Marriage Equality, Alex Greenwich, said the national campaign has resolved to maintain its commitment to fight the plebiscite in any form.
“The plebiscite is a failed policy rejected by the parliament and the postal plebiscite is a flawed policy,” he said.
“LGBTI Australians, their family, friends and colleagues will be disappointed tonight but our campaign will not stop just because their government has failed us.”
Many members of the LGBTI community have taken to social media to vent their frustrations over the government’s decision to both reintroduce a plebiscite and push for a postal ballot.
The plebiscite is a dead-end. The parliament should do its job and legislate for #marriageequality. We know love will win. #auspol pic.twitter.com/3mUeaJtn1I
— Janet Rice (@janet_rice) August 7, 2017
i will accept a postal ssm plebiscite if in return they give us a grindr referendum about taking away marriage from straight people
— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) August 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/rhysnicholson/status/894505106904936450
Politics fails in many ways but it's farcical that our government needs a postal poll to MAYBE recognise (marriage) equality before the law.
— Senthorun Raj (@senthorun) August 7, 2017
Tonight, Malcolm Turnbull broke the nation's heart #MarriageEquality
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) August 7, 2017
If I had $40 million I would definitely spend it by mailing out little cards asking the public if they think gay people are human beings
— Deirdre (@figgled) August 7, 2017
Do not blame me, I voted Labor!
so much for the unconditional love of the religious conservatives in oz?
So much for Liberals opposing “the tyranny of the majority”. From John Adams to John Stuart Mill to Sir Robert Menzies actual conservative liberals are rolling in their graves.
Let’s have plebiscites on marginal tax rates for high income earners, negative gearing/capital gains taxation and welfare measures if these are the new politics, Libeals. Oh wait, that’s not about the gays, forget it.
HI,
The definition of ‘stupidity’ is doing the same thing again & again but expecting a different result each time.
The definition of ‘insulting our intelligence’ is:
– politicians claiming the SSM plebiscite election promise has to be kept when they have broken so many others – hardly a mandate when the governing party lost their majority down to one seat.
– politicians wanting to give the people a say on SSM via a plebiscite as if every issue in the history of Australia has gone through similiar public votes
– if a plebiscite returns a yes vote it does not mean members of parliament have to vote yes too. I guess this is what non-binding plebiscite means.
The definition of ‘hope’ is:
that one day SSM will become law in Australia
Regards, Arthur
So whose life decisions do we get to vote on next? How come I never got a vote on things which affected me like what appalling private school I had to go to or my parents’ divorce but somehow I have to vote about whether people I have never met get to marry each other?
This makes zero sense. And to top it off the most pro-plebiscite politicians are the same ones who are refusing to commit to supporting the outcome when it gets back to Parliament?
We are forced to take a plebiscite seriously because this decision is too important for politicians while Eric Abetz makes a mockery of the whole deal by flagging he’s going to vote against same sex marriage anyway.
This is the most fucked thing I’ve ever seen in Australian politics.