NSW ALP leader to push marriage

NSW ALP leader to push marriage

NSW Labor leader John Robertson will push for same-sex marriage at the party’s state conference next month.

He confirmed his position on the ABC’s 7.30 program, highlighting the fact that one of his children is gay.

The NSW branch of the ALP is the only state to yet endorse marriage equality in Australia, after Queensland and Western Australia threw their support behind the legislative change in recent weeks.

“This is a personal issue for me, not a political one. One of my kids is gay, and I’d like them to have the same opportunities as the other siblings,” Mr Robertson told last night’s program.

“It’s an issue that’s not one I’ve arrived at based on polls or a focus group, but a personal one as a parent.

“I don’t think this is an issue that’s going to see us lose seats or lose an election, and on the same count I don’t think it’s an issue that’s going to see us win seats or win elections either.”

The NSW State ALP Conference is on July 9 and 10.

While focusing on the National Conference and August 13’s National Day of Action, marriage equality campaigners around Australia will be active. A dinosaur has been organised to prowl the surrounds of the Sydney Town Hall, the conference venue, to draw attention to outdated views about GLBTI people held by some conference delegates.

“We thought it would be great to organise some kind of stunt to draw attention to the fact that the NSW ALP is going to be voting on the policy,” Community Action Against Homophobia co-convenor Cat Rose said.

“It’s clear from the polls that show that 75 percent of people think marriage equality is inevitable that these laws are seen as backward and outdated.

“It’s not going to be a mass rally but it is something people can participate in and we’d definitely encourage people to come down on the day.”

If NSW Labor backs changes to Marriage Act to include same-sex couples, it is likely to become ALP policy at the national conference in December this year.

It would put the already unpopular Prime Minister Julia Gillard at odds with her party. Gillard only last week restated her personal position that marriage was between a man and a woman after New York legalised same-sex marriage.

“We’ll make our own decisions in this country based on what’s right for Australia – my views in this area are well known,” she told a press conference at the WA ALP conference last week.

She also denied the Federal Government was out of touch with its state branches despite different platforms on issues like same-sex marriage.

“I think you’ll find that around the country whether its here in Western Australia or in other places, Labor party members come to Labor party conferences full of ideas and wanting to have their say,” she said.

“My responsibility as Prime Minister, with the motions being passed here in Western Australia or whether it’s Queensland or anywhere else, is to make sure I’m making the right decisions for the nation’s future.”

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4 responses to “NSW ALP leader to push marriage”

  1. That makes a pleasant change from Keneally, who stuck by the party line against marriage equality, and against removing exemptions from the Anti-Discrimination act. What a shame the ALP weren’t able to take a more principled stance while they were in power.

  2. There are some rotten ALP members in NSW who’d rather not see same sex marriage happen in Australia, and plenty of NSW ALP members who like to blow smoke up the proverbials of the same sex marriage community, so it’s great to see someone in NSW taking a personal stand. A call to action would be great about now John … the ALP needs to grow a spine and this issue is the perfect opportunity.

  3. Good on John Robertson! Kristina Keneally also showed brave leadership on same-sex adoption. Labor leaders of the Right and Left are standing up to the noisy minority – Gillard has to do the same!