This week, Labor leaders Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek bit the bullet and announced that a marriage equality bill will be introduced in parliament next week, likely off the back of international adoration directed at Ireland, where history was made from same-sex marriage being legalised through a referendum.
And it’s something that’s been virtually unanimously taken to by the Australian public, even by notorious 2GB shock jock Alan Jones – who made a moving statement in favour of marriage equality on breakfast radio yesterday:
“The reality is this: in a very difficult world, which is often impersonal, uncaring, ruthless and sometimes brutal in personal relationships, love can prove elusive. And my view is that when people find love they should be able to celebrate it. And they shouldn’t be discriminated against according to the nature of that love.”
Strange feeling ’tis when you find yourself unashamedly agreeing with Alan Jones and Joe Hockey in the same week.
Charlie Pickering’s game has been routinely slaying every Wednesday night on ‘The Weekly’ after his shaky debut, taking on halal certification, internet piracy and Brisbane’s bid for the Olympics – all with a special brand of eloquence and satire, laced intricately with well-researched truisms, and fashioned into expertly handled smackdowns.
Arguing that, like New York‘s huge boost in economy following their marriage equality ruling, Australia could “use the pink dollar to get back into the black,” Pickering takes a different angle on the marriage equality debate to the political rhetoric, saying, “We can gay our way back to surplus” with an influx of same-sex weddings.
“Forget coal and iron ore, with gay marriage Australia could become leaders in the dog tuxedo industry,” Pickering says, before adding the sobering new reality of Australia’s stance on same-sex marriage, in comparison to the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and some states of the US: “Now, when an Englishman, an Irishman and an Aussie walk into a bar, turns out – we’re the punchline.“
Truth hurts. Watch below.
