Australia lawmaker introduces gay marriage bill

A member of parliament from the ruling coalition, has defied party doctrine by presenting a draft law on marriage equality. The Liberal Party has been staunchly opposed to the issue despite public opinion.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Aug 2015

Australian lawmaker Warren Entsch broke from conservative government ranks on Monday to introduce a bill to legalize marriage equality. Entsch, of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Liberal Party, said the draft law was to "promote an inclusive Australia, not a divided one," as a new poll showed that most Australians support a national law providing gay couples the right to marry.

"A divided nation is what we will be if we continue to allow discrimination in relation to marriage on the basis of a person's sexuality," the 65-year-old former crocodile farmer said. He then conceded, however, that his bill may never reach a vote after a decision last week by the ruling coalition that the government would be bound to party policy against legalizing marriage equality.

A survey conducted by the Sydney-based market research firm Ipsos, published in Fairfax Media newspaper on Monday, showed that 69 percent of Australians favored marriage equality, a 12-point increase since the end of 2011. The increased pressure to recognize same-sex unions as marriages has seen support slip away from Abbott, with 54 percent of Australians preferring the opposition Labor Party.

Abbott shoots down hopes of a vote

"This is something that has been the way it currently is for thousands of years, hundreds of years, it's a very big decision to make a change like this," Abbott, who once trained to be a Catholic priest, said of the prospect of marriage equality on Monday.

"I don't say that it's not a decision that the community won't embrace ultimately," Abbott said. He then, however, shot down hopes of a free vote on the parliament floor because "the decision that came very strongly out of our party room last week was that this should not be the politicians' decision, it should be the people's decision and that's what will happen in the next term of parliament. It should be a people's choice."

Same-sex couples are permitted civil unions in most Australian states, but they are not recognized as married under national law. Labor leader Bill Shorten has vowed to legalize gay marriage if he wins the next election.

es/rg (AP, AFP)