Labor and lawyers spurn George Brandis’s marriage bill
And Jonathan Green has a go at some uni students. Must have mistaken them for foxes.
The Law Council of Australia is donning the rainbow cape to fight George Brandis’ draft same-sex marriage bill, The Sydney Morning Herald, yesterday:
The Turnbull government’s proposed version of marriage equality would further entrench discrimination by allowing civil celebrants and service providers to refuse to undertake gay weddings, the peak law body says.
Guess the Law Council isn’t as keen on this 2015 submission to the Law Reform Commission now they want to force civil celebrants to marry gay couples, Law Council of Australia, March, 2015:
Freedom of religion is a fundamental right ...
Gay activist Rodney Croome is fuming, The Guardian Australia, yesterday:
Suddenly, we are faced with the very real prospect of a return to the days when it was OK for a shop owner to a tape sign to her window declaring “No Blacks” or “No Asians”, only this time it could be “No Gays”.
Mr Croome doesn’t get the whole “politics is the art of the possible” thing going on his past exploits leading the charge for gay marriage, The Guardian Australia, August 2, 2016:
The veteran gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome has quit as national director of Australian Marriage Equality (AME) to lobby parliamentarians to block the same-sex marriage plebiscite enabling legislation.
Croome, who founded AME in 2004, announced his departure in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia on Tuesday, accusing those who believe a plebiscite is inevitable of “lacking political imagination” ...
Labor is against the draft bill. The Sydney Morning Herald, continued, yesterday:
Labor condemned the draft bill as evidence of right-wing backbenchers’ control over the Turnbull government ...
But Bill Shorten was cool with freedom of religion a couple of months ago. The Australian, May 25, 2016:
Bill Shorten has moved against a Greens push to scrap safeguards for religious groups in the nation’s anti-discrimination laws … “We are not interested in telling religious organisations how to run their faith-based organisations,” Mr Shorten said yesterday while campaigning in Perth.
Mr Shorten does have a habit of changing his mind when it comes to gay marriage though, The Australian, June 26, 2016:
“Personally speaking I’m completely relaxed about having some form of plebiscite,” he said.
And ABC Radio’s Jonathan Green has congratulated our Australians of the Year — the QUT students who fought 18c and won. Twitter, Sunday:
Misnamed. ‘White Australians of the Year’ surely? ... The Australian’s Australians of the year 2017.
Good to know Mr Green had time to get off his high, fox-hunting, horse, The Australian, June 7, 2016:
The presenter has confirmed he partakes in the sport that involves tracking, chasing and killing a fox while on horseback.
Maybe this keen hunter can help ABC managing editor Michelle Guthrie understand Australia’s rural folk a little better, The Australian, yesterday:
Pastoralists have accused the ABC of fomenting a Trump-style rural revolt with a controversial decision to axe shortwave services, which are crucial to some bush residents ...