According to reports, the conservative faction of parliament are scrabbling to draft their own alternative marriage bill, should the postal survey on same-sex marriage return a ‘yes’ vote.
The Guardian reports that conservatives within the Coalition are working on the bill, although no details have yet been made public out of fear that it would appear defeatist before the result of the postal survey actually come out.
Should the result be a resounding ‘yes’ – and we bloody hope it is – then Education Minister Simon Birmingham has indicated that the bill introduced by Liberal senator Dean Smith in July this year would be the “most logical starting point.”
That bill allows religious ministers, celebrants and organisations to refuse to conduct weddings; in fact, when Smith – who changed his mind about same-sex marriage following the death of Tori Jonson in the Lindt cafe siege – he sent a message to the more conservative members of his party that this bill would allow for more protections that a future Labor one.
That being said, the conservatives are trying to make as many as 100 amendments to the bill, according to the reports. Of course they are.
Guess we’ll start finding out come 10am on Wednesday 15th November, which is when the result of the postal survey will be announced. It feels like this survey has been going on for one million years, but now we’ve got just two weeks left.
