.Pinworm.
Well-Known Member
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s opposition Labor Party voted to block legislation to allow a public referendum on same-sex marriage, Bill Shorten, the party’s leader, said on Tuesday, effectively killing the nonbinding plebiscite that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had proposed for early next year.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia, right, and
the leader of the oppositionLabor Party, Bill Shorten, in
Canberra in August.
Last month, Mr. Turnbull asked lawmakers to support a bill that would ask Australians if the country’s marriage law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry. But Mr. Turnbull, whose government holds a one-seat majority after national elections in July, needed the support of Labor for the bill to pass in Parliament.
The prime minister had said that the government would provide financing for both the “yes” and “no” campaigns, and that he would abide by the decision of the voters. But the plebiscite would not have been binding, and there was no guarantee that Mr. Turnbull’s colleagues would have supported the outcome.
Mr. Shorten said the Labor Party had voted unanimously to block the bill at a party caucus held in the nation’s capital, Canberra, on Tuesday morning.
“A plebiscite is the wrong path to achieve marriage equality,” Mr. Shorten said at a news conference after the caucus. “The plebiscite would cause harm to gay and lesbian people — particularly, but not exclusively, to young people.”
He described the plebiscite, which was supposed to be held in February, as expensive and divisive, saying it would cost about $138 million and harm the children of gay couples. “Children do not need to go to school in the climate of a plebiscite and have the integrity of their parents’ relationship challenged,” he said.
Both Labor and the Greens think the question should be decided by Parliament.
“This country does not have the right, in a plebiscite, to pass judgment on the marriages and relationships of some of our fellow Australians,” Mr. Shorten said. “It is not what Australia is about.”
Mr. Turnbull’s support within his governing coalition depends on his ability to appease both moderate members of his Liberal Party and more conservative lawmakers, including those from his coalition partner, the Nationals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/world/australia/australia-same-sex-marriage-referendum.html?_r=0
I thought Australia was supposed to be a tolerant and inclusive country. Cannot believe that this is still an issue in 2016...
