Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm has confirmed that Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged him not to introduce his marriage equality bill.
Speaking to RTRFM’s ‘Morning Magazine’ program on Thursday Senator Leyonhjelm confirmed he had raised the issue with the Prime Minister.
“I know that he’s opposed to same-sex marriage himself, but what I’m looking for is his support for a conscience vote.” Senator Leyonhjelm said.
“He gave me the definite impression that he’d rather I didn’t raise it, that they have enough on their agenda already and this would just cause debate and division in the party room and he wished it would just go away, and that I’d leave it alone.”
The Liberal Democrat Senator said he considered the Prime Ministers position but decided to move ahead with the introduction of the bill.
Senator Leyonhjelm told RTRFM’s Paul van Leishout that he’d received wide support for the bill.
“There is a lot of support for this on both sides of the chamber,” Senator Leyonhjelm said, “As to whether or not the numbers are there, I don’t know yet. I’m getting expressions of support from all over the place.”
Prior to the federal election the Prime Minister appeared to relax his stance on the issue suggesting the decision on whether or not Liberal members would be able to exercise a conscience vote was a matter for the party room.
Senator Leyonhjelm said he was confident that a conscience vote would be granted, but the real issue was whether enough politicians would support the change.
“Since the last time the Libs addressed this issue there has been a bit of a sea change among their members, they are no longer willing to tow the party line. There are some people with very strong feelings on this issue.”
Some of the Coaition’s most conservite members though are arguing that a concience vote should not be granted on the issue of marriage equality. Queensland Senator Cory Bernardi has told the Sydney Morning Herald that allowing a conscience vote would undermine the foundations of the party.
“The Liberal Party has respected the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman since its establishment. The demands that we should abandon this position would undermine the foundation of the party itself,” Senator Bernardi said.
“It’s not a matter of life or death and to grant a conscience vote on marriage would be open every policy of the Liberal Party to some sort of voting free for all.”
AME Launches Pozible Campaign
Australian Marriage Equality, the national lobby group that promotes marriage equality has launched a new Pozible campaign to fund their efforts in persuading politicians to support the bill.
Ivan Hinton-Teoh, the Deputy Director of AME said the organisation hoped to raise $50,000 before the end of the year.
“To get to as many electorates as possible and start our effective local campaigns we need to raise $50,000 by the end of the year. If we don’t our opponents will continue to call the shots and do and say whatever it takes to block progress.” said Hinton-Teoh.
To date the campaign has raised $16,000, click here to find out more about the campaign
ACL: Marriage Bill Will Abolish Children’s Rights
The Australian Christian lobby has called on the Coalition to continuing supporting the legal definition of marriage as only being between a man and a woman.
“The real conscience issue here is whether or not a child has a right to their biological mother and father,” ACL managing director Lyle Shelton said.
“The Liberal party room must as a matter of conscience preserve the definition of marriage, which provides for the best interests of children, as a matter of party policy.
“Libertarian Senator David Leyonhjelm’s bill to redefine marriage abolishes a child’s most basic freedom – to be loved, known and raised by her or his biological parents,” Mr Shelton said.
Mr Shelton said same sex couples did not face any discrimination in Australia under Australian law and questioned that if gender requirements were removed from marriage, there would also be a removal of the limitation of the number of people in a marriage.
In his weekly blog Mr Shelton described Senator Leyonhjelm as an extremist who did not believe in the concept of society.
