The blocking of the Federal Government’s plans for a national plebiscite on the issue of legalising same-sex marriage in the Senate last night “might work to secure the preservation of marriage in the long term”, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.
A bill to hold a non-binding plebiscite on the issue of changing the Marriage Act to include marriage between people of the same sex was defeated in the Senate last night, 33 votes to 29. The Turnbull Government had proposed holding the plebsicite on 11th February next year but Labor and the Greens were joined by the Nick Xenophon Team and Derryn Hinch in voting down the bill.
Lyle Shelton, managing director of the ACL, said that following last night’s vote, the issue was likely to remain “gridlocked” for many years to come unless Labor wins the next election.
“Labor, the Greens, Senator Derryn Hinch and the Nick Xenophon Team may have unwittingly done the nation a favour by allowing more time for people to understand the consequences of abolishing the gender diversity requirement in the Marriage Act,” he said in a statement.
“More and more stories of legal persecution and demonisation of people who believe in man-woman are emerging from overseas and in time this will filter more into the Australian conscience,” he added, citing a recent case in which Roman Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous was taken to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission over material handed out promoting marriage between a man and a woman as an example.
Mr Shelton also said it would be a “breach of faith” with the Australian people if government members crossed the floor to vote on a private member’s bill on the issue and added that, unless advocates for changing the definition of marriage were willing to wait until the next election, he expected the idea of a “people’s vote” on the issue may be revisited in parliament.
“A people’s vote is the fairest way to resolve what is the biggest social change in a generation. There is nothing unusual about an issue of this magnitude being taken to the people.”
