To be formally announced at this weekend’s national ALP conference in Melbourne, Labor’s environment spokesman Mark Butler said the target was ” an ambitious but doable goal”. “It is a con by a desperate leader and this latest policy will be lucky to make it to the election let alone be implemented”, Dutton said.
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“What I am saying today is that for a future Labor government to rule out this policy now would be a gross mistake because we cannot see a reopening of this journey putting people smugglers back in business with the inevitable outcome we will see lives lost at sea”. Even though he rolled out a series of schemes and policies that are placed high in the party’s agenda, he made no mention to the controversial issue of turning back asylum seeker boats.
But Shorten argues the best way to achieve the change is “to build support by finding common ground; through consensus not coercion – not through the force of procedure but through the power of an idea whose time has come”.
Matthew was also upset by the method with which the vote was decided, which he says had “no accountability”: “there was no official count, just a which-side-yelled-‘aye’-or-‘no’-the-loudest” situation.
“Either they vote against their conscience – or they vote against the party they’ve dedicated their working life to serving”, he writes.
“We urge supporters of marriage equality in the Coalition to carry the issue forward in their party room and we urge the Prime Minister to stick to his pre-election commitment of allowing the party room to debate a free vote”.
Though on paper the move lowers support for same-sex marriage in Parliament, some campaigners are hopeful that by Labor ensuring a free vote to its MPs, the Liberals will do the same.
Currently, government MPs must vote against marriage equality, meaning a bill would have no chance of passing the Australian parliament.
She predicted that the numbers would be “very tight” if Rainbow Labor backed a binding vote.
It also reveals the Labor leader’s assessment that tough climate policy is required if the economy is to be restructured and his party is to present itself as the only mainstream alternative for voters anxious about global warming.
But Mr Shorten was given loud applause when he dared the Abbott government to “bring on” a climate change election.
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“We’ve had more focus from Labor than we have had from Labor ever”, Strong says.
