Gay Marriage: Australia May Go The Ireland Way
As Ireland becomes the first country to accept same-sex marriages through popular votes, its reverberations have been felt across the world. Australian conservatives have also opened up to the possibility of a referendum to change the laws, but traditionalists like Prime Minister Tony Abbot are still resisting the call for change.
Conservatives politicians called for a referendum within Australia as soon as the Irish results were out. But Mr Abbot is against same-sex marriages and a possible change in Australian laws. The Guardian reports that the prime minister was holding out against any possible referendums.
“Referendums are held in this country when there is a proposal to change our constitution and I don’t think anyone is suggesting the constitution needs to be changed in this respect,” he said. As the call for a change is rising the PM described himself as the “last holdout for the traditional position.” Surprisingly conservative leaders like Tony Burke have changed their stance and come out in support of marriage equality.
ABC News reports that the opposition leader Bill Shorten, who supports gay marriage, has questioned the Abbot government on its unwillingness to pursue change. Bill shorten told The Australian, “The real obstacle to marriage equality being dealt with by the parliament is Tony Abbott.”
Australian Marriage Equality national convener Rodney Croome also has said that there is no constitutional barriers for moving forward on marriage equality. Several prominent business leaders and community elders have registered their support for a referendum in Australia and the prominent among them are Irish Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and Mr Abbot's sister, Christine Forster.
Ireland has become the 19th country to legalise gay marriage. In spite of an overwhelming Catholic majority, Ireland has voted to make same sex marriage legal and had over 60 percent turnout during the referendum. Australia currently does not recognise same sex marriages, but the opposition to the same has been dwindling.
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