Malcolm Turnbull on 1st anniversary as Australian PM: Same-sex marriage plebiscite introduced

Malcolm Turnbull has introduced same-sex marriage plebiscite in parliament. On his first anniversary in office on Wednesday, the Australian prime minister said he supports marriage equality but people would vote no on marriage equality because of “deeply felt conscience.”

Speaking before his colleagues on Wednesday, Turnbull said the plebiscite would determine what the Australian people want, and if they want to change the marriage act, then the parliament would follow their wishes.

Turnbull said he supports marriage equality, adding that the Australian society would be stronger if more people were married and there were fewer divorces. However, the issue is a matter of conscience to people, and they may feel it’s not right to allow same-sex partners to marry.

“The argument against the plebiscite is basically people can’t be trusted to have a civil conversation,” the PM said, referring to people being wrongly called homophobic for opposing same-sex marriage. “That insults the Australian people. That disrespects the Australian people.”

He presented the plebiscite legislation, which he claimed is “thoroughly democratic.” It is planned to be held on Feb. 11.

The Opposition had no response yet because Bill Shorten was about to fly to Canada to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Only a handful of Labor MPs were in the chamber as well.

The plebiscite may be blocked in the Senate, though. Shorten is expected to urge members to vote against the same-sex marriage plebiscite for apparently being expensive, unnecessary and would just inflict discrimination towards LGBT people.

Shorten is a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage. In his previous speeches, he explained how pointless and potentially damaging a $160 million plebiscite would be. He said that the plebiscite would just be the Liberals’ delaying tactic on the issue.

Read more:
Greens to oppose same-sex marriage plebiscite; Liberals warn blocking marriage equality vote will delay issue for years
Same-sex marriage plebiscite in Australia: Turnbull to announce delay to 2017