Nick Cater, head of the Menzies Research Centre, has suggested that the government may have to provide greater funding to the advocates of traditional marriage than those supporting marriage equality because there is too much bias in the Australian media.
Appearing on Channel Ten’s ‘The Bolt Report‘ Mr Cater was discussing the challenges of free speech with host Andrew Bolt.
The conservative commentator said the ABC were too focused on portraying Catholic Priests as child abusers, argued that advocates of traditional marriage would need more funding than their opponents in the lead up to the plebiscite and suggested that more focus should be on what happens to homosexuals in Muslim countries than, what he described as “reasonable”, comments from Catholic Bishops.
Mr Cater said there was something “really, really nasty” about the move in Tasmania to hold the Catholic Church to account under the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
Tasmania’s Anti-discrimination commissioner has ruled that Julian Porteous, the Catholic Bishop, has a case to answer over the Church’s ‘Don’t Mess With Marriage’ booklets. Greens political candidate Martine Delaney claimed the booklet was offensive because it stated that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were not “whole” people and their children were “unhealthy”.
“It seems to me to be part of a really aggressive secularist campaign to shut religion out of the public debate all together.” Mr Cater said.
The Head of the conservative think-tank said journalists at the ABC were too focused on portraying Catholic Priests as the perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
“We know it’s a very tiny proportion of cases and we also know that most of the one’s reported are mostly historical. It does seem to me to be a concerted attempt.” Mr Cater said.
Mr Cater said there was not enough being said by left wing commentators about the homophobia and deaths of homosexual people within Muslim countries suggesting that this should be of greater importance than seizing on what he felt were “quite reasonable” comments by the Catholic Church in Tasmania.
Mr Cater said the level of bias in the Australian media was so great that the government should probably give more support to advocates of traditional marriage to help them get their message across.
“Under normal circumstances you’d think that the government would fund the case against same-sex marriage as well as the one for, in fact it probably should fund it more because the same sex marriage cause has a very loud voice in the media.” Mr Cater argued.
Mr Cater said he feared the “early onslaught of really brutal bullying and political correctness” meant that there would not be a fair debate about same sex marriage.
OIP Staff
For goodness sake it’s not ” a really aggressive secularist campaign” it is a really aggressive homosexual campaign against freedom of religion… Martine Delaney is a co-founder of Australian Marriage Equality and has close ties to Rodney Croome who is pushing his supporters to initiate action like this AND the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner is a lesbian gay rights activist. Delaney and Robin Banks are the ones who should be called to account for their actions. Delaney is running as a Greens candidate at the next yefederal election and has found a way to raise her profile thanks to friends like Croome and Banks. No matter that Porteous gets dragged over the coals a couple of weeks out from Christams when he should be focused on other things. The whole thing stinks. Banks has abused her position and should go.