Saturday’s poll has not delivered a government for Australia but advocates for marriage equality have argued that the result shows there is no need for the Coalition’s plebiscite for marriage equality.
Traditional marriage lobby groups have declared the complete opposite, saying the real loser was the election was the relentless push to redefine marriage.
While the election remains on a knife edge with a the Coalition hoping it can secure enough postal votes in a enough seats to form a majority government one thing that is clear is that there are now more politicians in parliament who support marriage equality than there was before the election.
Australian Marriage Equality says no need for plebiscite
Australian Marriage Equality’s Rodney Croome has said this result clearly shows that the Coalition’s argument that a national plebiscite is the only way to move the issue forward is flawed thinking.
In an opinion piece published in The Guardian Croome highlights that studies showing support for a plebiscite show remarkably different levels of public support. Given the increased number of pro-marriage equality politicians in the house Croome argues that the issue should be dealt with by the parliament.
AME’s National spokesperson Dr Shirleene Robinson said the organisation had run it’s biggest ever election campaign targeting over 30 different seats.
“Over the past two months, Australian Marriage Equality has undertaken its largest ever election campaign in more than 30 seats across Australia.
“In many seats where AME has run its election campaign, we have seen support shift from communities and MPs for marriage equality.
“Our national team of volunteers and supporters worked tirelessly in seats such as Capricornia, Macarthur, Hindmarsh and Barton where we now have MPs backing marriage equality. This election saw a record number of LGBTI candidates and we welcome new supporting MPs such as Tim Wilson in Goldstein and Trevor Evans in Brisbane.” Dr Robinson said.
PLFAG says the last nail has been put in the coffin of the plebiscite
Parents of LGBTI Australians said the election returned an increased majority of MPs in favour of marriage equality and was a “nail in the coffin” of Malcolm Turnbull’s proposed plebiscite on the issue.
“With pro-equality Labor MPs replacing Liberals who were against there is now a clear majority of members in favour.” said the group’s National Spokesperson Shelley Argent. “A free vote would deliver marriage equality straight away.”
Argent said the last week of the election campaign had shown that the plebiscite plan did not stand up to public scrutiny.
“After a week in which the Coalition’s proposed plebiscite unravelled under close public scrutiny, it’s indisputable that the plebisicte cost the Coalition votes.”
“Malcolm Turnbull must acknowledge he has no mandate for a plebiscite and drop the idea.” Argent said.
Australian Christian Lobby calls for Labor to drop their support
The Australian Christian Lobby, the leading group opposed to changing the marriage laws, has taken a different view of the election results.
In a series of blog posts Executive Director Lyle Shelton said the real loser of the election campaign was the relentless push for redefining marriage.
Shelton said the issue might have resonated with some inner-city seats but was not on the agenda of mainstream Australia. Shelton said the Labor party should realise after two elections that there pro-marriage equality platform was not being supported by voters.
“The long-running debate about changing the definition of marriage is clearly not an issue for mainstream voters. They are focussed on other things while political elites and some in the media are fixated with same-sex marriage.” Shelton wrote.
Despite opinion polls released last week showing 70% support for marriage equality the lobbyist said most Australians had not heard the case against change.
“The likely slow-down is good because most Australians are yet to hear anything of the substantial case for preserving the definition of marriage.”
In a podcast from the ACL David Hutt, the group’s Director of Campaigns and Strategy, said the marriage equality was a boutique issue and attributed Labor’s low primary vote to pro-marriage equality policy.
Hutt said after taking the issue to two consecutive elections and scoring their second lowest primary vote on Saturday, it was time for the Labor party to abandon their support for marriage equality.
OIP Staff
