Tony Abbott tries to take credit for marriage equality again after losing poll

Tony Abbott tries to take credit for marriage equality again after losing poll
Image: Tony Abbott. Image: Twitter / VoicingOurVote

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has tried to claim credit for same-sex marriage again following a poll that shows him losing his seat of Warringah.

Shortly after the postal survey results were announced in November 2017, Abbott went on 2GB to take credit for the result as “my idea”.

“I put this process in place. I have, in a sense, facilitated the change,” he said.

Well folks, he’s at it again. Abbott has doubled down, saying that “when all is said and done, I helped to make the thing happen,” in an interview with Nine’s The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I set up the process which opened up the possibility and even the likelihood of change,” said the man who claimed marriage equality would  “trash our country’s history”.

“Now that it has happened, I absolutely accept the outcome. It’s the law of the land and that’s the way it is,” Abbott said.

Abbott also previously called the campaign for marriage equality a “a war on our way of life”, among any number of other absurd anti-marriage equality comments including suggesting that LGBTI people are no long discriminated against.

That same Tony Abbott who in December 2017 decided that his new line of thinking was that marriage equality would “strengthen the social fabric” of Australia.

“There may indeed be a few homophobic individuals lurking amongst us, but no-one should ever again claim that Australia is a bigoted or intolerant country,” he said during debate over legislation which ultimately legalised same-sex marriage.

Legislation which he abstained from voting for, after telling a US-based anti-LGBTI group that the postal survey had “created a network that could be deployed to defend Western civilisation more broadly and the Judeo-Christian ethic against all that’s been undermining it” and calling for anti-LGBTI campaigning to continue into the future.

Abbott’s latest revisionist history comes in the wake of a poll which showed Abbott likely to lose his seat to independent candidate Zali Steggall by a 54 to 46 margin.

Steggall, a barrister and former Olympian whose ‘sensible centre’ campaign mirrors that of Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps, has been campaigning strongly on Abbott’s opposition to action on climate change.

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3 responses to “Tony Abbott tries to take credit for marriage equality again after losing poll”

  1. This man is an oxygen thief. The sooner he gets voted out of parliament, the better off this country will be. His prime ministership was a huge low point in our history.

  2. What a hypocrite! Yes, he promised that Plebiscite but he did so knowing that Plebiscite results are never, ever binding on any government. That means that if Abbott had not been so deservedly dumped he would have run it but then simply refused to do anything. Plebiscites are only run to give an insight into how the People are thinking.
    If, on the other hand, Abbott had promised a Referendum on the issue of Same Gender Marriage and the subsequent Equality it gave us, and the result had been as it was on the Plebiscite then it would have been binding and Abbott would have been forced to introduce the legislative changes required. Abbott was determined not to introduce Equality in Marriage to the GLBTIQ Community and so he promised that Plebiscite.
    Yes that plebiscite was claimed to have brought pain to a few within our community but never, ever forget that Malcolm Turnbull acted on the result immediately and allowed the vote on Dean Smith’s Bill to go ahead and we now have Marriage Equality – something Abbott and Bill Shorten were both never going to allow – Bill Shorten, like Julia Gillard, was vehemently opposed to it and, until the result of the Plebiscite, was loudly opposed to it. Then, just as Abbott is trying to do now, Shorten promoted the issue as having been all his idea in the first place.
    They really are not to be trusted and let us not forget that there are politicians from both the ALP, Liberals, Nationals, Australian Conservatives and other fellow ultra-right-wingers who, should they get the numbers in both the House of Reps and the Senate, would change the Secular Australian Marriage Act again and make Same Gender Marriage illegal again. Remember that the act is a Non-religious one, changing it only makes Civil Same Gender Marriage legal. Religious businesses such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Uniting and others are not subject to the Australian Marriage Act – the rules covering the Division of State and Religions apply. Abbott & Shorten both do as the RC Church tell them. They would break that long-held principle dividing State and Religion.

  3. Hey, Tony Abbott might be being disingenuous now about marriage equality but he’s been so honest until now that nobody is fooled.

    He actually proved an important point when he demanded the plebiscite. He said you couldn’t trust politicians on this issue. Then he proved it by abstaining in parliament when 80 per cent of his electorate had voted Yes. It turns out you can’t trust politicians when they’re Tony Abbott. He was right!!!

    Chuck in that video of Margie laughing her arse off at her beleaguered husband at Christine Forster’s wedding and Tony can claim credit all he wants, we’re already over laughing at his patheticness.