Well this is all kinds of excellent – Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has put forward Indigenous leader Pat Dodson to replace outgoing Western Australia Senator Joe Bullock, who stepped down last night because he was not all that chill with Labor‘s pro-same-sex marriage stand.
Dodson, a Yawuru man from Broome, and affectionately known as ‘the father of reconciliation’, said he was “surprised” to receive the phone call from Shorten, and assured the crowd that he would “not be swapping Indigenous tribalism for white fella tribalism.”
Shorten said this morning that his appointment would bring “credit not only to Labor but to the Senate and the Parliament as a whole” and “a win for Australia“, to a room full of cheering Labor MPs (although not, as it happened, Bullock himself).
All-in-all, Labor seem pleased as hell with this decision:
Thrilled to be welcoming Pat Dodson back to @AustralianLabor and hopefully to the Senate. pic.twitter.com/VOyQJ2qup7
— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) March 1, 2016
Pat Dodson receives a standing ovation from Labor MPs as he enters the Opposition party room pic.twitter.com/NmKs3nvyyj
— ellinghausen (@ellinghausen) March 1, 2016
Joe Bullock announced his retirement from politics last night thanks to his inability to support Labor’s decision to bind caucus to vote in favour of same-sex marriage, or as he calls it, “homosexual marriage”.
Boo hoo.
