Abbott "on borrowed time" after gay marriage debacle - Victorian Lieberals

As well as South Australia, Abbott is deeply unpopular in Victoria. The Lieberal state gov there losing gov after only a single term. Now after this week the opposition Victorian Lieberal leader has been scathing at Abbott over his bullshit blocking of a Lieberal marriage equality conscience vote. Publicly saying thus:

Guy accused Abbott and his supporters of "poisoning the well of goodwill for all other elected officials in the country" by not allowing Liberals a conscience vote to determine the issue based on their personal beliefs.

"I've got to say, I think Australians are utterly sick of federal politics, and I'm not surprised why," he told reporters.

"People who feel they should be bound on matters of conscience by a party vote ... need to go back and look at the rationale in which our party was founded by Robert Menzies. It wasn't one of binding votes, it was one of conscience. We should be proud of that, and members should be able to exercise that – full stop." Read more

Actually, it's times like this I feel really proud. Something that was a minority issue has exploded onto the national stage as a gov defining election issue. Something that could have been dealt with so easily, because of Abbott's recalcitrant political ass has now become an almighty national "WTF?" at the sheer stubborn stupidity of the Abbott gov. All because a small minority of the population want to be treated equally. I am very proud to be part of that minority that has caused such a gov implosion as this :)  But I digress.....

The the Victorian Lieberals are running as far away from Team Abbott as they possibly can. Indeed, Abbott's marriage equality blocking appears to have been the last straw for many Lieberals. They've had enough. Some are even leaving the party I read the other day over it. A party that is supposed to be about individual conscience is now being held at the throat by Abbott's captains calls. How many people will change their votes over marriage equality alone now remains to be seen, but I can't imagine the population flocking to the Lieberals over it.

More broadly, Abbott's latest position on marriage equality is as disingenuous as it is confusing. In a few months, he has gone from rejecting the idea of a popular vote in the wake of Ireland's historic referendum to suddenly embracing the idea – a move that moderates view as an attempt to terminate the issue in the long term. 

The thing is, the majority of the community either supports same-sex marriage or couldn't care less either way. By prolonging the inevitable in order to preserve his conservative base, the Prime Minister has again shown an inability to move with the times or treat people equally. 

By engaging in party-room chicanery, he's also cast himself as someone willing to divide his own team and undermine one of the fundamental principles on which his party was founded. 

And by doing all of the above, he's just about guaranteed that gay marriage will be one of the defining issues of the next federal election, exposing his MPs to activists' campaigns and potentially depriving the government of clear air to talk about other pressing national issues: jobs, infrastructure, the economy. 

All of this is likely to be particularly acute in Victoria, where Abbott's approval is the lowest of all the states (31 per cent); several Liberal marginal seats hang in the balance (including Corangamite, La Trobe, and Deakin) and the threat of the Greens continues to rise in once ultra-safe blue-ribbon territory (such as Higgins). Read more

Brilliant! Karma is such a bitch eh Tone? Just think of this as gay revenge. Us poofs can be real bitches you know......