Andrew Hastie drafts new marriage "equality" bill - wants it adopted if Yes wins

Gov MP Andrew Hastie

Well the writing has been on the wall for weeks now. We've had Lyle Shelton and a conga line of the far right in the gov (including former PM John Howard) complaining that if the Yes vote wins then there needs to be wide and far reaching religious exemptions.

The Bill that has gone through all the processes via a senate committee and reached consensus among most is the bill drawn up by Liberal senator Dean Smith, which offers religious protections for churches and religious institutions. Whether you agree with that or not, this is the bill that is most favoured as the one for a clear run through parliament.

However, far right religious extremist and gov minister Andrew Hastie has drafted a new marriage equality bill and wants it to be adopted by the gov and put in to law if the Yes vote wins in the postal survey. By all accounts it sounds hideously discriminatory against us LGBT and sounds like anyone anywhere would be able to use their religion to discriminate against us.

Once again, instead of marriage equality having a clear run through parliament, even after a postal survey, won't come about. Once again it'll be not about us LGBT but about internal gov infighting and solving their own problems at the expense of us.

One of the most vocal critics of the lack of “religious protections” in any of the possible Marriage Equality Bills so far put forward has been the vociferously religious ex-army officer, Andrew “Hands Off” Hastie, MP for Canning. 


 Now Hastie, along with Senator David Fawcett and MP Ian Goodenough (chair of the joint parliamentary Human Rights Committee), with the rumoured support of IPA drone, Senator James Patterson, is drafting a Marriage “Equality” Bill of his own. Paterson is also a member of the HRC. 


The Hastie Bill is stuffed with all manner of religious and even non-religious “conscience” clauses, granting virtually anyone immunity from anti-discrimination law if they object to equal marriage. It is, in effect, a bill to legalise LGBTI segregation: a Marriage Apartheid Bill. 


 The trio of drafters are now quietly canvassing support among fellow MPs and senators, including Tony Abbott, who can confidently be expected to seize yet another chance to cause division in the party room, and further destabilise Malcolm Turnbull. 


 In these circumstances, a YES vote cannot be expected to lead swiftly and smoothly to equal marriage: the result of the survey will only be the start of another round of bitter fighting, especially inside the coalition. 


Strap in and hang on! It’s going to be a bumpy Christmas. The Stirrer