I desperately want tomorrow to be a yes. The the whole process has been a disgrace and never should have happened.
But that statement by Andrews is purely a Labor ad cynically dressed up as a sympathetic call to arms. Fark that.
Labor had the chance to legislate for same sex marriage while in government a number of times and didn’t have the stones to do it. Rudd was elected with a massive majority and more political capital than maybe any PM ever. This issue was on the radar then and he completely dogged it. Gillard, a staunch believer in the cause, took over Rudds parliamentary majority and could also have legislated for it but publicly changed/denied her long held view. Again, gutless.
Labor are only the allies of the SSM movement now because it’s politically convenient for them and their sanctimony about it makes me sick.
The Family Law Act of 1975 and its amendments recognised same sex partnerships and their children as family units; the Sex Discrimibation Act of 1984 outlawed sexual discrimination action ( except in marriage). Introduced by Labor Governments, they laid the path to acceptance/ recognition of SSM in the longer term, which was set back by the Howard Government changes to the definition of marriage ( and preventing the States from allowing SSM).
It is only in the last three or four years that other Governments have allowed for SSM.
To give Gillard her due, she operated as a minority Government ( while being undermined by Rudd) and a difficult Senate- but she still got through a raft of important legislation. . SSM may have been a bridge too far.
ACT - which has a SSM Act until it got disallowed by the Feds would probably come first; Katter’s electorate last - according to him, there are no gays in his electorate.
Think you are marking Danny Andrews harshly. He has been a passionate and vocal supporter of SSM ever since I first knew him, and it is not fair to tar him with any errors of a Federal Labor Government. He is the first Premier in my memory who doesn’t play Politics with these matters.
Rudd did have a majority in the lower house, but not in the Senate, and to be fair, he did have a few things going on that required attention like a Global Financial Crisis that was handled well. Julia had no majority and while she personally supported SSM, the Labor Federal Caucus did not and she was bound by that.
I agree they could have done better, but it was a group racked with division, and to achieve what they did was astounding to me. Compare the worthwhile legislation and actions taken from 2007 to 2013 with the current Abbott/ Turnbull regime.
And also remember than Labor has treated SSM as a " conscience" issue to suit the Catholic lobby. Shorten to mandate that Labor will legislate SSM within 100 days of being elected with massive Caucus support is a huge step forward to ridding Labor of these tossers.
“Senator Wong says the vote has been “not just about lesbian and gay couples, not just about the LGBTI community - although it is about us - it is about the sort of nation we are. And it will be a very important statement about the identity of the nation, the values of the nation, and that’s why these are such high stakes”.
“And I wish we weren’t here, I wish this could have been dealt with better by the Parliament, but we are where we are and I’m hopeful for an outcome that reflects the goodwill of the Australian people today.”