Another lost opportunity for same-sex marriage

By The Canberra Times
Updated April 24 2018 - 9:40pm, first published October 12 2016 - 7:54pm

For a social reform issue that apparently commands growing levels of public support, same-sex marriage has an extraordinary capacity to tie politicians and political parties in knots. In the latest series of contortions, the Turnbull government's bid to deliver on its election promise to stage a plebiscite next year has been torpedoed by an Opposition Leader who three years ago was advocating just such a strategy (in preference to a parliamentary vote) to achieve marriage equality. Bill Shorten now argues a plebiscite would be a waste of money, that it would subject members of the gay and lesbian community to ridicule and hatred, and that Coalition MPs would not be bound by an affirmative vote.

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