Senator Derryn Hinch has announced that he will move a motion calling for school that turn away gay students or teachers to be stripped of their commonwealth funding. “I will move a notice of motion in the Senate [on] Monday calling for any private school that discriminates against a teacher or student on sexuality grounds […]
The Australian Defence Force has denied claims by The Herald Sun that it has plans to ban the words ‘his’, ‘he’ and ‘she’ and ‘her’ from being used by personnel. In a front page story today the newspaper suggests that a guide to using non-gendered language and respecting pronouns of transgender people used in the […]
Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann has announced that the financial cost of the postal survey was much less than the anticipated $122 million. Senator Cormann announced on his Twitter account that the process had been delivered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for $80.5 million. “Happy to report that the ABS delivered the […]
The government’s compulsory attendance plebiscite has been knocked back by the senate for a second time after MPs declined to have a second reading of the bill. Labor’s Senator Penny Wong delivered a passionate speech arguing against the government’s plan to poll the population rather represent the people. “This motion is not about giving people […]
Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman has called the caning of two gay men in Indonesia “cruel and sickening” following the public punishment in Aceh this week. The two men were arrested after vigilantes broke into their residence, and claimed the pair were having gay sex which is against Aceh’s laws. Zimmerman said Australia should not stand […]
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has restated the government’s commitment to a plebiscite on marriage equality but wouldn’t be drawn on reports a postal plebiscite was under consideration. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday the Prime Minister said the coalition’s policy was clear. “We went to the election with a policy for a plebiscite which would give […]
Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin has said police still believe the man behind the explosion at the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) in December was not driven by ideological motivations. The Commissioner was appearing before a Senate Estimates Committee yesterday when he was asked about the event. “We don’t believe his primary motivation was to make […]
A cross-party Senate committee tasked with examining the government’s proposed bill to enable marriage equality have reached a consensus on the best way to move forward. In what Greens Senator Janet Rice has described as an “unprecedented show of collaboration”, the report opens the door to a new bill to be introduced to parliament. The […]
As the debate over the future of marriage equality continues in parliament and across the country, the House of Representatives have today passed the government’s proposed plebiscite bill sending it to face the Senate where it will inevitably fail to pass through the blockade consisting of Derryn Hinch, The Nick Xenophon Team, The Greens and […]
The national plebiscite on allowing same sex couples to marry would take place on February 11th 2017 under a plan taken to cabinet last night. The February 11th date would allow the plebiscite vote to be held before the Western Australian election which is scheduled to occur in early March. Details of how the plebiscite […]
