Australia on Tuesday announced targets for reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions but environmentalists and others quickly criticized the goal as woefully inadequate.
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“We are not leading, but we are certainly not lagging”, he said. It also has a significant coal industry, which Abbott has called “good for humanity”.
While Abbott spoke of the risk of voters feeling dudded if the Coalition adopted a conscience vote, his sister Christine Forster spoke for those on the other side of the argument who feel dudded.
If voters backed no change: “Obviously I’d be pleased and I think everyone else should accept that”.
“The disposition of the party room this evening [Tuesday] is that our position going into the next election should be that in a subsequent term of parliament, this is a matter that should rightly be put to the Australian people”, he said.
Mr Entsch had co-sponsored a cross-party bill for marriage equality, which Mr Abbott said should instead be discussed in the combined Liberal-National party room meeting.
When asked what he thought about Entsch’s bill, he said: “Let’s see where things will go, we don’t know what the bill provides”. Referendums are held in this country where there’s a proposal to change the constitution.
The gay marriage issue in Australia is an interesting one, not least because Tony Abbott, and indeed politicians in general, are out of touch with public opinion. In 2004, the then-Howard government changed the definition of marriage to “between a man and a woman” in response to a growing push for marriage equality.
But the prime minister now has an opportunity to shift the agenda onto more comfortable ground. Why are they still so willing to go down with Abbott’s ship?
Mr Abbott, who personally opposes gay marriage and trained as a Roman Catholic priest, has offered a referendum on the issue if his government remains in power after the next election, but the outcome would not be binding. The Australian Academy of Science said the country should aim for cuts of 30-40% from 2000 levels, arguing that the starting point should not be 2005, when Australia’s emissions were higher.
According to a Crosby-Textor survey earlier in the year, three-quarters of Australians are in favor of legal recognition for same-sex marriages.
Ms Gambaro is co-sponsoring the cross-party bill to amend the Marriage Act that will still be introduced into the Parliament next week, despite the Liberal Party voting down a free vote for ministers.
Tanya Plibersek said: “I just want to take a moment to talk directly to gay and lesbian teenagers about the decision the Liberal and National Parties made last night”.
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“(It’s) the standard position of our party that if a frontbencher can not support the party’s policy, that person has to leave the frontbench”.
