Turnbull wants ‘civilised’ postal ballot campaigns but his predecessor promoting war talk

ANALYSIS: Forget a peaceful, civilised debate on same-sex marriage before the postal vote; Tony Abbott’s latest remarks suggest he wants all-out war.

Tony Abbott is now framing the same-sex marriage debate as political correctness gone mad.

ANALYSIS

Forget a peaceful debate on same-sex marriage. Tony Abbott wants war.

The push for changes to the Marriage Act is a “war on our way of life that politically-correct activists have been prosecuting for years now”.

And he has said: “If you’re worried about religious freedom and freedom of speech, vote ‘No’, and if you don’t like political correctness, vote ‘No’ because voting ‘No’ will help to stop political correctness in its tracks.”

That “political correctness” line is never fully explained, apart from references to a proposition children need a mother and a father, which Labor’s Penny Wong says isn’t always true.

But for his purposes, an explanation isn’t needed; Mr Abbott knows it will fire up a small group of voters without need of illumination.

Others are attempting to lower the belligerence factor of the marriage equality debate.

“It’s not about a culture war, it’s not about fighting all sorts of other wars, it’s about a very simple straight forward proposition,” said Industry Minister Arthur Sinodinos.

“And I think it’s important for us to focus on that and for people to have the opportunity to have their say.”

But Mr Abbott won’t be convinced, for two reasons.

One is his politically instinctive mode is “attack, attack, attack”. He seems always on a war footing with a clutch of battle cries.

Second, one of his objectives is to turn the Liberal Party in a direction contrary to that being steered by Malcolm Turnbull.

And today the Prime Minister is working hard to mandate a substantial policy agenda supported by the broad electorate, such as action on electricity prices.

PM Malcolm Turnbull is fighting to stay on course. Picture Kym Smith

Further, he wants to rectify a major error in hard political tactics by swinging the focus onto Labor Leader Bill Shorten.

The Coalition over-estimated the damage to Mr Shorten’s reputation done by his appearances at the Trade Union Royal Commission. He was barely touched.

In last year’s election campaign, the Liberals declined to vigorously ram home any political advantage they had gained from the TURC, assuming voters “get it” about Mr Shorten.

Apparently they didn’t, and Mr Turnbull now wants to ensure they do.

He and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash today promoted legislation which banned secret payments between unions and employers, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

This directly links to the TURC and Mr Shorten’s role, when a trade union leader, in special arrangements with companies with which his members were negotiating wages and conditions.

There is no suggestion Mr Shorten personally pocketed cash from these agreements, but the Prime Minister argues he benefited indirectly.

And he is depicting Mr Shorten’s actions as a betrayal of union members.

To the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader is the enemy, not voters who are for or against same-sex marriage.

Mr Abbott is turning his rhetorical weapons elsewhere although, to be fair, he has accused Shorten of a “war on success” through his tax policies.

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari kisses independent Senator Derryn Hinch after cutting a Marriage Equality Cake at the Senate doors at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday. Picture: AAP