A trio of Liberal Ministers have declared that colleagues who support the marriage laws being changed without protections for religious freedom are betraying coalition voters. In today’s The Australian Assistant Ministers Angus Taylor, Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar accuse gay Liberal MPs Dean Smith and Tim Wilson of failing to meet the expectations of coalition voters. […]
A new poll published by Fairfax Media has revealed the voters in key coalition seats would rather see politicians directly deal with the issue of marriage equality than via the government’s stalled plan for a plebiscite. The Sydney Morning Herald has revealed that when it comes to the public, the numbers are on the side of the […]
Liberal Senator Dean Smith has shared his private members bill for marriage equality with his parliamentary colleagues and released it for all Australians to consider. When Liberal MPs meet tomorrow afternoon for an emergency meeting to address the contentious issue of marriage equality, Smith, alongside Trevor Evans, Warren Enstch, Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman will […]
Tony Abbott thinks the government should stick with the current policy of a plebiscite, and even take it to the next election. “If it was good to put to the people at the last election, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be good to put it to the people at the next election,” Abbott told Sydney […]
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has dismissed reports suggesting there is a plan to replace Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull if a backbench plan to force a vote on marriage equality is successful. News Corp have reported that there is a plan to replace Malcolm Turnbull and deputy Julie Bishop with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Health […]
Liberal MP Jason Wood has told The Guardian that he’d vote in favour of marriage equality if his colleagues manage to get a private member’s bill up. Wood said that while the proposed plebiscite had been the way of dealing with the issue, if a debate commenced on the floor of parliament, he believed Liberal […]
Queensland MP Trevor Evans has hinted that he may cross the floor to support marriage equality. The declaration from the Liberal backbencher that he believes his party should dump the plebiscite and allow a free vote in parliament, adds another voice to the growing number of government MPs publicly declaring their belief that the marriage […]
The idea of deciding Australia’s long running marriage equality debate by a opt-in postal plebiscite has been criticised by politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. Liberal Senator Dean Smith, who is working on a private members bill for same-sex marriage, has described the idea as “corrosive”. Speaking to ABC radio this morning, Senator […]
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he favours a postal plebiscite over a free vote in parliament because it would give all Australians an opportunity to have a say on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to get married. The member for Warringah did concede that many would question how much authority a postal plebiscite […]
New Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman has used his maiden speech to back marriage equality. Mr Zimmerman was elected to federal parliament in a by-election caused by the resignation of former treasurer Joe Hockey. Mr Zimmerman is the first openly gay member of the Liberal party in the lower house. Delivering his maiden speech on Wednesday […]
