Only one Australian electorate opposes gay marriage
11 replies, posted
[quote]Just one electorate in the country has a majority of voters opposed to same-sex marriage, according to new research that suggests MPs and public debate significantly trail voters in backing change.
The University of Melbourne-led study found opposition to changing the Marriage Act ranges from 40 to just over 50 per cent in a handful of rural Queensland and northern NSW seats to less than 10 per cent in inner-city electorates in Sydney and Melbourne.
Maranoa, in outback south-western Queensland and held by the Coalition's David Littleproud, has just over 50 per cent of voters who do not want a change to allow same-sex couples to wed.
A small collection of seats – Groom, Flynn and Hinkler in Queensland and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's base in New England – could oppose same-sex marriage if undecided voters opted for the status quo.
But in most seats a clear majority backs marriage equality.
Support is strongest in the Sydney seats held by Labor's Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's home turf of Wentworth, Greens-held Melbourne and a ring of ALP seats in the Victorian capital's inner suburbs.
The study – based on responses to the ABC's Vote Compass survey in 2013, weighted in analysis to reflect the demographics in each electorate – found only a third of voters were opposed to a change.
The push for marriage equality appears likely to stall in this parliamentary term, with Labor and the crossbench opposed to a plebiscite and the government pledged to block a change unless there is a national vote.[/quote]
[url]http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/just-one-electorate-opposed-to-samesex-marriage-20160923-grn2mq.html[/url]
I know a lot of people are pissed about the plebiscite thing, but really Labor should just suck it up and agree with it. The Liberal party wont budge and a plebiscite now is better than waiting 3 (or more) years for the next election.
If fecking Ireland can vote to get Marriage Equality, then I'm sure ya lads can do it. Precedent has been set - it just has to be followed.
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51140692]If fecking Ireland can vote to get Marriage Equality, then I'm sure ya lads can do it. Precedent has been set - it just has to be followed.[/QUOTE]
We have the numbers but unfortunately both major parties have socially conservative wings. Previously both parties feared their conservative wings would cross the floor if they backed gay marriage.
[QUOTE=download;51140709]We have the numbers but unfortunately both major parties have socially conservative wings. Previously both parties feared their conservative wings would cross the floor if they backed gay marriage.[/QUOTE]
Are there not votes to be gained over the issue? What currently is being done outside party politics to do this?
I will admit it was a long road in Ireland for gay people to achieve equality but we were lucky Labour went into government with Fine Gael the last time - Labour being the socially progressive, that is. They were the ones who pushed for the Marriage Equality referendum, make no mistake (though I admit that Fine Gael at-least made it easy for it to happen). Do you guys have a Referendum Commission at all that might be able to put pressure on the government?
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51140721]Are there not votes to be gained over the issue? What currently is being done outside party politics to do this?
I will admit it was a long road in Ireland for gay people to achieve equality but we were lucky Labour went into government with Fine Gael the last time - Labour being the socially progressive, that is. They were the ones who pushed for the Marriage Equality referendum, make no mistake (though I admit that Fine Gael at-least made it easy for it to happen). Do you guys have a Referendum Commission at all that might be able to put pressure on the government?[/QUOTE]
Well, the Labor party have realised they won't be able to stop the flow of votes towards the Greens if they didn't support gay marriage so they changed their position a few years back.
[editline]3rd October 2016[/editline]
Clearly they decided the loss of their right-wing was worth it to stop the Greens.
Labor should continue to block it bc Labor is absolutely correct.
The government keeps fucking telling us everyday "guys guys were in a budget emergency we can't put money into Medicare or education!" Yet want to fork out a $160 million plebiscite. Even conservative reporters are against the idea bc a free vote in Parliament is all we need.
Yes Labor could do this the easy route and say yes to it but what's that going to achieve? Plebiscite isn't even Law binding anyway so there's no guarantee promise.
Fuck the plebiscite
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;51140854] Plebiscite isn't even Law binding anyway so there's no guarantee promise.
Fuck the plebiscite[/QUOTE]
What the fuck? Can you guys not directly vote on the constitution like we can? Now I see Australian Labor's position more clearly.
Though I will point out if they ignored a plebiscite and most of the country voted for gay marriage, those who ignored the plebiscite would be committing political suicide.
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51140939]What the fuck? Can you guys not directly vote on the constitution like we can? Now I see Australian Labor's position more clearly.
Though I will point out if they ignored a plebiscite and most of the country voted for gay marriage, those who ignored the plebiscite would be committing political suicide.[/QUOTE]
This doesn't even have anything to do with the constitution, the only reference to marriage in our constitution is basically "Parliament have the power to make laws regarding marriage". So, all that really needs to happen is for parliament to write up a law saying "gay couples can get married", pass it, and job done.
Instead, the Liberal party is pushing this taxpayer-funded opinion poll so they can pass such a law (Because the overwhelming majority of the country supports it) without appearing to directly support it (Because their socially conservative voterbase wouldn't like it).
[QUOTE=TacticalBacon;51141010]This doesn't even have anything to do with the constitution, the only reference to marriage in our constitution is basically "Parliament have the power to make laws regarding marriage". So, all that really needs to happen is for parliament to write up a law saying "gay couples can get married", pass it, and job done.
Instead, the Liberal party is pushing this taxpayer-funded opinion poll so they can pass such a law (Because the overwhelming majority of the country supports it) without appearing to directly support it (Because their socially conservative voterbase wouldn't like it).[/QUOTE]
Jasussssssssss. You would fecking think people would have gotten over the fact that gay people exist by now. I've never gotten people's concerns with what two consenting adults do with their body parts.
In Canada the Liberals said in 2002 or so "We now have gay marriage." The Conservatives in 2006 or so said "Well our voter base don't like that, so we're gonna have an open vote on it in parliament because it's controversial. Whatever the result of the vote is is what we'll go with." So they did, and being a minority government at the time and allowing an open vote, they basically knew they were going to lose since everyone from the left-wing parties would vote in favour of it, and there were more of them, and a few more libertarian-minded conservatives would also vote for it. Inevitably, the open vote chose to keep gay marriage. Basically, it was a way to show to the anti-gay part of their party that "Well we tried, but there's the result. No point in arguing it anymore." In a situation where they knew the vote would never succeed. They said that after that they'd never touch the issue again, and they indeed haven't, even when they had a majority and could have forced a change.
[QUOTE=download;51140674]
I know a lot of people are pissed about the plebiscite thing, but really Labor should just suck it up and agree with it. The Liberal party wont budge and a plebiscite now is better than waiting 3 (or more) years for the next election.[/QUOTE]
Yes, Labor should suck up a fucking $160 million dollar waste of fucking time, seeing as the plebiscite is non-binding. It would be delusional to think that anything would come of it. The problem isn't labor being stubborn, it's that Malcolm Turnbull is a spineless shitcunt.
If Turnbull truly was on the side of gay marriage he'd allow a free vote regardless of the consequences to himself or the Liberals. The fact he hasn't pushed for this shows he's a self-serving hack who's ready to ignore his own beliefs and principles if they threaten his job. Spineless.
The Liberals seemed perfectly happy to vote that marriage was between a man and a woman in the mid 2000s without involving the general public. Now they want us to vote in a non-binding money sink to overturn that. Hypocritical conservatives seem to have taken this government hostage over the issue, and are taking the rights of homosexual Australians hostage too. They are as shameless as they are devoid of integrity. God have mercy on their souls.
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