Marriage equality advocates have cried foul over Tony Abbott’s claim that the cross-party marriage equality bill may not come to a vote any time soon because it is a private members’ bill.
Australian Marriage Equality national director, Rodney Croome, said,
“The Prime Minister said he wanted a bill that is ‘owned by the whole parliament’ and that is what this bill is.”
“Now he’s lifting the bar by effectively saying only government legislation will be prioritised, but by definition a government bill would not be ‘owned by parliament’.”
“The millions of Australians who supporter marriage equality want to see a parliamentary debate sooner rather than later and they want the Prime Minister to smooth a path to that debate rather than put obstacles in the way.”
“I call on the Prime Minister to return to his simple and straight forward pre-election promise which was to allow a party room debate on a free vote whenever Coalition members want that debate.”
Mr Croome also dismissed concerns raised by Senator Eric Abetz that marriage equality will lead to polygamy.
“The one advantage to Australia falling behind twenty two other countries on marriage equality is that we can see the impact overseas, including that not one single polygamous marriage has occurred.”
“When opponents of marriage equality like Senator Abetz resort to these kinds of scare tactics it shows they have no legitimate arguments left.”
For more information contact Rodney Croome on 0409 010 668.
Author: Rodney Croome
Publication: AME Media Release
Date: 2 July 2015