Lieberals secret move to torpedo plebiscite on gay marriage

More love from the Canberra christians...

So I guess the cristian extremists in the Lieberal gov are aghast that there is much support for marriage equality in Australia. Can't have that you know, poofs getting married, just not on what. 

There is reportedly a secret move within the Lieberals to try and torpedo the whole plebiscite by sort of making it into a bit like a referendum type thing; that is by saying if a particular state had an overall vote of no then all ministers in that state would be OK to vote no if they so desired. 

A secret push is under way within the Coalition party room to hobble any positive public vote in favour of same-sex marriage equality by giving conservative MPs and senators express permission to vote in Parliament against reform if their individual electorates had voted in a majority for "no".

Senators would be able to claim the exemption from a national "yes" vote if their home states had voted "no".

The ploy, which was to be kept under wraps until after the election, has been crafted to allow conservative anti-marriage equality campaigners to concentrate their resources in conservative-leaning regional and outer-suburban electorates where there is the greatest chance of winning enough individual contests to frustrate an expected popular vote, in Parliament.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is coming under increasing pressure to outline the precise details of the same-sex marriage equality plebiscite, which he says he fully expects will succeed when it is held sometime before the end of 2016 – assuming he is re-elected. Sydney Morning Herald

So WTF is it then? A plebiscite they want or a referendum? And what other hoops do we Australians have to jump through for David and I to marry? 

It's increasingly becoming clear that the only way to get marriage equality in Australia is to get rid of this gov. Whether that will happen next Saturday remains to be seen.

And for the ultimate stupidity, the current parliament already has enough votes to pass marriage equality, if the Lieberals were allowed a free vote. Yet for the Lieberals to have a free vote they want to spend $500million on a plebiscite that they don't even have to be bound to, which will tell us what we all know anyway. That around 70% of Australians are fine with David and I getting married. 

Marriage equality proponents have long been keeping an eye on the numbers in parliament, and announced some months ago that in a free vote in the current parliament that marriage equality would pass. Turnbull is lying when he says there wasn't enough support in this parliament, there was. The only thing standing in the way was the free vote and the christians in the party who didn't want it.

Malcolm Turnbull has offered a bizarre explanation for why he will now allow Coalition MPs to have a free vote on same-sex marriage after the plebiscite, a move that will let them ignore its result.

He says there was “probably not support” for same-sex marriage in the last parliament, on a free vote basis – implying he thinks support for same-sex marriage will increase among parliamentarians after the election.

But he then admitted he does not know what the next parliament will look like.

He encouraged voters not to worry, saying he “knows parliamentarians well enough” to know that they will respect the will of the people – a view that contradicts his original point about MPs in the former parliament.

Turnbull announced on Friday that Coalition MPs would be allowed a free vote after the plebiscite. The decision provoked outrage from opponents of the poll, who said a free vote exposed the pointlessness of the $160m exercise.

Australian Marriage Equality national spokeswoman, Shirleene Robinson, said her organisation had “always supported a free vote in parliament on marriage equality”. “If the next parliament holds a costly and unnecessary plebiscite on marriage equality and it’s passed, then the Australian people will expect their wishes to be respected,” she said.

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, questioned the point of the “divisive, wasteful plebiscite” following the free vote announcement. The Guardian 

So WTF is the point of wasting time, money, and the mental health of the LGBT on a plebiscite? 

pic.twitter.com/4aQYS2Iatg

— Shelley Argent OAM (@Shelley_Argent) June 25, 2016

Findings from @PFLAG POLL on overrated #Plebiscite and drop in support @AMEQUALITY #LGBT #FreeVote please#Libs pic.twitter.com/SVWIJnDjXX

— Shelley Argent OAM (@Shelley_Argent) June 25, 2016