Get Real Malcolm Turnbull.
The plebiscite is a waste of time and money. The Coalition need to realise that it does not need a plebiscite to determine public support for a vote on same sex marriage in parliament. It is accepted in the lives of the majority of Australians. Australia is merely behind the rest of the world in implementing such laws that allow it; twenty-two countries passing the law to date.
I should note that I don’t believe it need be a law to marry the one you want to spend the rest of your life with (or perhaps only a small portion of your life with), no matter the gender they take ownership of.
However, in recent days we have once again seen the conversation of the plebiscite taken up by the Coalition, after leaked comments of Christopher Pyne speaking at a private function were released on Friday evening. Interestingly, Payne stated, “Friends, we are in the winner's circle — but we have to deliver a couple of things and one of those things we've got to deliver before too long is marriage equality in this country… We're going to get it. I think it might even be sooner than everyone thinks.”
Aside from emphasising the obvious factions within the Coalition Government itself, this statement provides evidence to my above statement that same sex marriage is accepted in the lives of the majority of Australians (including prominent officials in Government). So why then did Payne retract these comments when they were leaked? And why did Malcolm Turnbull come out this morning and once again emphasise that it was, “the policy we took to the election and we are sticking to it. We have no plans to change it, I want to be very clear about that.”?
If you know anything about politics, you’ll know it all has to do with the power positions within the party. Who is aligned to who? What are the beliefs of the people they are aligned to? What alliances are the strongest? (Let’s be honest, it probably all comes down to money).
This shouldn’t be the case. I use my vote to elect representatives that will listen to my opinion (and the opinion of others around me). I do not need them to spend exuberate amounts of money, the expected cost originally set at AUD$160 million, to be heard. It was only recently that protestors attended a Liberal Party function in Melbourne, to rally against the prominent role Margaret Court has had within the party. This came after several negative comments were made by Margaret Court in reference to same sex marriage. It even got to the point that gay tennis star Martina Navratilova called for a renaming of Margaret Court Arena and many agreed with her statement over Twitter.
Enough is enough. I want to be a proud Australian once more. Let us marry who we please, provide us the freedom to love who we love, and come down from that misogynist ivory tour in which you sit to stand up for the rights of all of us. We are over your s*** Malcolm Turnbull. Do the right thing for Australia and stop worrying about whose pockets are the heaviest within your party room.
Go to our friends at GetUp today to sign a petition to allow marriage equality in Australia!
Bibliography:
ABC. (2017, June 23). Margaret Court: Protesters rally against former tennis champion outside Liberal Party fundraiser. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-22/protest-against-margaret-court-outside-liberal-party-function/8642276
Lewis, R. (2017, June 26). Abbott lashes out at Pyne as damaging Lib split re-emerges. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pyne-caught-on-tape-gay-marriage-soon/news-story/f3c38f00d3e8848b57d82f68a9c5c52e
Winsor, B. (2017, June 01). Same-sex marriage is now legal in 22 countries - here’s how it happened. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from SBS: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/06/01/same-sex-marriage-now-legal-22-countries-heres-how-it-happened
Yaxley, L. (2017, June 26). Tony Abbott lashes out at Christopher Pyne over leaked leadership, same-sex marriage comments. Retrieved June 26, 2017, from ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-26/tony-abbott-christopher-pyne-leadership-gay-marriage-disloyal/8651080
