Turnbull, who supports marriage equality, told the Parliament that the plebiscite’s critics believe reform could have been pushed forward without hearing from voters.
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WA Liberal senator Dean Smith may cross the floor over the plebiscite vote.
Same sex marriage is legalized in culturally comparable countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, and also in the United States, where state-level bans were ruled unconstitutional past year.
“A year, even a week, from now no-one will care whose name was on this bit of paper, but what will stand for all time, to the credit of the 45th Parliament, will be extending equality under the law to all Australians”.
They fear that government plans to spend 15 million Australian dollars ($11 million) on publicizing the cases for and against marriage equality would give legitimacy to bigoted and homophobic views.
‘We want same-sex marriage without hearing in the playground that I am not normal’.
Labor has given a strong indication that they will oppose the plebiscite on these grounds, but they are waiting on their internal party process to formalize the decision.
Shorten has also shifted his position, telling religious leaders in 2013 that he was “completely relaxed about having some form of plebiscite” on same-sex marriage.
“I think it’s a real shame that broadcast networks will be forced to play advertising”, says Christian.
History will record Malcolm Turnbull as a fraud on marriage equality, the man who had the opportunity to make it happen but cowered in the face of Tony Abbott, Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz, the Prime Minister who broke the nation’s heart.
They caution that public debate on same-sex marriage would legitimize discriminatory views, giving bigots a wider platform for spreading homophobia.
The compulsory ballot on February 11 next year would ask Australians: “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”.
Shorten said, “Every piece of expert advice tells us young Australians who are gay are more likely to contemplate suicide and more likely to take their own lives”.
PFLAG national spokeswoman Sharyn Faulkner said community leaders had combined to stop the plebiscite.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said the provision of $7.5 million for the “no” side would lead to “appalling abuse” of public funds, and indicated Labor was now more inclined to block the plebiscite in the Senate.
But as he introduced legislation to let the public have a say on the issue, the prime minister’s bid for a plebiscite appears headed for defeat.
He had only put it up because it was the price Coalition conservatives had extracted for the party leadership, Dr Emerson said.
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And shadow foreign minister Penny Wong described the proposal as a “capitulation” by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the Coalition’s conservatives.
