Far right final fling against us will fizzle - religious amendments won't pass lower house (video)

*click to enlarge. Note the words on the back of the folder :)

Trying to salvage some sort of dignity and authority in the same sex marriage juggernaut, the far right of the gov has tried their favourite strategy; to squeeze Turnbull's balls yet harder.

After the senate comprehensively knocked all the religious amendments to the marriage equality bill on the head, Turnbull has back flipped and now decided that he would support two of the amendments that failed miserably in the senate. Or to put it another way, he has decided to say yes to the far right so he can breath without ball pain.

The amendments he has decided to support are celebrants refusing service to gays because they're gay, if said celebrant decides to do so. In other words the celebrant might as well put on their business card "I don't serve gays". The other is safeguards for the legal status of charities, whatever that means.

However it will fizzle, or at the very least will have to go back to the senate where it'll be voted down again. There are the numbers in the lower house who all want to pass the bill un-amended. Whatever the outcome the far right will once again fail, it just depends how. One wonders why they keep bashing their heads against their ideological brick wall :s

Entsch told Guardian Australia he “absolutely” supported passing the cross-party bill, authored by the Liberal senator Dean Smith, without amendments. 


“The reality is it has been dealt with comprehensively in the Senate,” he said. “It has been overwhelmingly supported.” 


Entsch said MPs were “entitled to make a contribution” but warned “any attempt to disrupt the process by putting out amendments that compromise the intention [to legislate same-sex marriage] is going to be very fraught for those involved. 


 “Even if some were to accidentally get up, which I don’t believe they would, it would have to go back to the Senate. It would be seen as disruptive and wouldn’t be tolerated.” 


At least 73 MPs want to pass the Senate bill unamended: with Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team’s Rebekha Sharkie, Andrew Wilkie and Entsch all promising to do so. 


 The votes of the cross-party bill’s co-sponsors, Trevor Evans, Trent Zimmerman and Tim Wilson, would give the bill a majority. 


With Barnaby Joyce and John Alexander fighting byelections and Tony Smith in the chair only 74 votes would be needed for a majority. The Guardian  

Turnbull has clearly lost control of his own party and government. I cannot recall any prime minister presenting such a pathetic, humiliating spectacle as this.

— Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) November 30, 2017