Christine Forster, the Prime Minister’s gay sister and City of Sydney Councillor, has told SKY News that she will personally lobby her brother on the issue on marriage equality. Ms Forster’s comments were reported in The Australian.
“I absolutely will be lobbying my brother, and I hope the party room makes enough noise about this,” Ms Forster told Sky News.
“Tony’s position has been well stated, and it’s on the record that he doesn’t support any changes to the marriage act.
“But I hope the party room tells him that they very firmly believe it’s a conscience issue, and he will abide by what they [the party room] tell him.”
Ms Forster’s comments come as pressure mounts on the Prime Minister to allow Coalition MP’s a conscience vote on the issue.
Prior to the last election the Prime Minister appeared to soften his stance against marriage equality when he switched from his usual response of “Marriage is between a man and a woman” to suggesting that the issue was one for the party room.
However when Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm introduced a private members bill last year that called for marriage equality, the Prime Minister responded by saying that private members bills do not normally get put to a vote in the party room.
Senator Leyonhjelm also revealed the the Prime Minister urged him not to introduce the bill.
Last week the Senate passed a motion put forward by The Greens’ Senator Sarah Hanson-Young that called on the Prime Minister to allow his members to have a free vote on the matter.
Senator Leyonhjelm’s ‘Freedom to Marry’ bill is set to have it’s second reading on Thursday. This puts the spotlight on Tuesday’s Coalition party room meeting with an increasing number of people calling on the Prime Minister to allow a conscience vote.
Australian Christian Lobby Argues Against Marriage Equality
The Australian Christian Lobby has called on the government to maintain it’s opposition to same sex marriage arguing the marriage is about the rights of children and that a compassionate society should support the status quo.
“Marriage is a social justice issue for children and their rights should always be put ahead of adults,” Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Lyle Shelton said in a statement.
“Same-sex marriage ideology says it is okay for a child to miss out on their mother or father. A compassionate society will do everything it can to ensure that, wherever possible, children are given the chance to be raised by their mother and father.
“Just because this ideal is not always achieved does not mean we should legislate family structure which guarantees it cannot be achieved.” Mr Shelton said.
Mr Shelton said gay and lesbian people in Australia faced no discrimination under the law.
Australian Christian Lobby Launches Email Campaign
To lobby Liberal politicians to maintain their current stance the Australian Christian Lobby has set up an email system that allows supporters to contact Liberal members with their views.
“Marriage is the cornerstone of a strong, sustainable and healthy society. It builds strong communities, forms good citizens, and brings parents together for the nurture of their children.
“The next 7 days will be a crucial time for the future of marriage.
“Australia must do all in its power to ensure that every child can know and be loved by their biological mum and dad wherever possible.” reads the ACL’s email call to action.
To date the campaign has attracted over 797,000 emails. Although it’s not known how many of these are in support of the Australian Christian Lobby’s position, as the form can be altered to reflect support for marriage equality as well.
Last week the ABC program ‘Four Corners’ highlighted that email campaigns by conservative Christian group the National Civic Council had been very effective in swaying Liberal politicians to support Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership.
NCC vice president Patrick Byrne, who organised the email campaign, told Four Corners it was effective.
“Our email campaign would’ve gone out to maybe 10,000 people; I’m not exactly sure and I don’t have direct feedback, but I think it’s had some influence,” he said.
Australian Marriage Equality has a campaign to send emails in support of marriage equality here.
OIP Staff
Update: 22/03/2015 17:35 AME email campaign added.
