Equality is now firmly on the national agenda, writes Hamish Boland-Rudder.
There was once an era, long past, when sex, religion and politics were the unholy trinity of civilised conversation.
Steer clear of these taboo topics, it was advised, and you’ll go far in the world.
Not so any more, and as if to prove it, the ACT’s small flock of politicians has, alongside lobbyists and pundits, pushed the three topics into national headlines almost daily over the past week.
The territory government on Thursday introduced a bill into its Legislative Assembly that, if passed, will see the capital become the nation’s first jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriage.
It’s a bold, but not unexpected, move from the country’s smallest parliament, timed, ironically, just a day after Australia’s new conservative Prime Minister was sworn in.
The topic of same-sex marriage was thrown under the harsh gaze of local and national politics a number of times during the federal election campaign. An independent, Greens-commissioned poll of ACT residents tried to push the issue to the top of voters’ minds, revealing an unsurprising two-thirds of the capital’s residents favoured marriage equality.
Even before the election, then Labor backbencher Kevin Rudd’s change of heart on gay marriage made headlines. As he reascended to the prime ministership, it became an issue he sought to capitalise on, with a promise that he would introduce a marriage equality bill within 100 days if re-elected, and with an impassioned dressing-down of a Christian pastor live to air on ABC TV’s Q&A program in the final days of the campaign.
The YouTube video of Rudd’s fiery response in support of same-sex couples became the most-watched clip during the campaign.
While it was a hot topic on social media, it wasn’t an election-winning issue. According to a poll commissioned by anti-gay marriage group the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) immediately after the September 7 election, marriage equality ranked ninth as an issue of importance when voters put pencil to ballot paper.
It may not have been an important factor in Tony Abbott’s decisive election victory, but it looks likely to become one of the first major challenges the new Coalition government will face in the Federal Parliament.
With news of the ACT’s plan to forge a path for gay couples to marry in Canberra, the Christian Lobby and others opposed to territory legislation immediately turned towards the new Prime Minister for support.
And sure enough, Abbott responded.
Attorney-General George Brandis was seeking advice on the legality of any marriage bill passed by the territory, Abbott told the media, as he earmarked an almost-certain federal challenge. The likely success of such a challenge has been dissected repeatedly by experts, pundits, proponents and opponents.
There are two avenues the Commonwealth could take.
It could challenge the ACT law’s constitutionality in the High Court, contesting both the very meaning of marriage and whether or not a state or territory has jurisdiction to legislate on the issue.
Or Abbott could look to have the legislation overturned by the Commonwealth, which would require a vote in both houses of Parliament.
Either way, the ACT government has signalled it is up for the fight.
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell introduced the bill to a standing ovation in the public gallery, and said he was confident the proposed laws could sit alongside the federal Marriage Act.
“It is a bill that says people in a same-sex relationship are able to have their love and commitment to each other legally recognised in the same way that people in a heterosexual relationship are able to through a legally recognised marriage,” Corbell said on Thursday.
The ACT Liberals will not support the bill, citing an inevitable federal challenge and jurisdictional issues as key factors.
They warn any marriages conducted under the territory law could be annulled if a High Court challenge is mounted.
“It’s just simply not the job of the ACT Assembly to be determining what is clearly controversial national social reform,” Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said on Thursday.
Regardless, the proposed law is likely to pass when it comes before the Assembly again in October with the support of Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, fulfilling ACT Labor’s ambition to have gay couples legally wedded in the territory by the end of the year.
But there’s still a long way to go, and there’s nothing like a bit of sex and politics to rouse passionate voices on both sides of the debate between now and the first “I do”.
While constitutional law experts discuss the validity of the ACT’s marriage proposal, advocacy groups are fighting to have their perspectives heard.
When approached for comment during the week, Canberra and Goulburn’s Catholic archbishop-to-be Christopher Prowse called for a moratorium on all marriage legislation, and said Australia wasn’t ready for gay marriage.
Pope Francis has taken a much softer stance, telling an Italian Jesuit journal the Catholic Church needed to find a “new balance”, which included greater acceptance of homosexuals.
Not surprisingly, other religious groups have joined the Australian Christian Lobby in opposing the ACT’s move, including Family Voice Australia, which labelled the legislation “meaningless” and set up a Facebook group during the week called “Protect Marriage in the ACT”, which had more than 250 members at the time of writing.
On the other side of the pending nuptials are groups such as Australian Marriage Equality, which launched an online petition during the week calling on Abbott to “respect the rights of the ACT, recognise the dignity of all relationships and let the territory’s marriage equality law stand”.
At the time of writing it had more than 4500 supporters.
Even business groups recognise the potential benefit same-sex marriage presents to Canberra. Like the federal Marriage Act, the ACT laws would not have a residency requirement, which means same-sex couples could get married in the territory regardless of their jurisdiction of origin.
The momentum appears to be on the side of the proponents. While Abbott rolled into the prime ministership maintaining his opposition to same-sex marriage, pressure is mounting for him to relent.
Other jurisdictions have passed marriage equality laws this year, including New Zealand.
Abbott’s dilemma is even more apparent closer to home.
In July, a NSW government inquiry found no constitutional impediment to introducing same-sex marriage laws, paving the way for a likely private member’s bill to face a full conscience vote by year end. Within Abbott’s own federal Liberal ranks there are MPs who openly support marriage equality – including cabinet member and former party leader Malcolm Turnbull.
There is even dissent within the Prime Minister’s own family.
His openly gay sister, Christine Forster, has publicly called for her brother to allow a conscience vote on the issue, while Abbott’s wife Margie told the Nine Network in the final days of the election campaign she was “open to discussion” on the issue, and said “love, commitment, are things that should be recognised and I think that’s a conversation Australia needs to have”.
Whether or not Abbott can hold to an increasingly tenuous policy position will no doubt be revealed sooner rather than later – his hand forced by moves either by the ACT, another state, or even rumours of a private member’s bill from the federal Labor backbench.
No matter how the ACT’s defiant foray into the national spotlight pans out, it has been successful in at least one respect already – the whole nation, for a little while at least, is talking about sex, politics, and religion.
Author: Hamish Boland-Rudder
Publication: canberratimes.com.au
Date: 21 September 2013