Newly-installed Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull has long been a supporter of marriage equality in Australia – this August, back when he was Communications Minister, he called on the party to adopt a conscience vote on the issue.
A number of people within the party supported him on the idea, including 25-year-old Longman MP Wyatt Roy, who backed him in yesterday’s leadership spill.
Since the events of last night, supporters of Aussie marriage equality have been basking in the glow of a potential fresh start, as it starts to sink in that, for the first time ever, the leaders of both major parties are now in favour of it.
With Australia still lagging behind numerous other places like the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Spain and France, it’s about time for a change.
Overnight, even singer Sam Smith got on board, joining many in sharing the below image with the hashtag #WeCanDoThis:
All that said, it remains to be seen how Malcolm Turnbull will handle the issue now he’s in charge.
After the initial idea of a conscience vote on marriage equality was rejected in favour of a plebiscite, Turnbull called for said plebiscite to be held ASAP, a position he may or may not continue to support.
Per reports in the Star Observer, sources “close” to the new leader say that he plans to stick with the existing Liberal party plan to hold a plebiscite on the issue now that he has succeeded Tony Abbott in the top job.
Leaders of Australian Marriage Equality have urged him to reconsider a conscience vote, issuing a statement in the lead-up to yesterday’s spill:
“Having the leaders of both major federal parties supporting marriage equality would be a first and we hope it would set the reform on a positive path forward. Should Malcolm Turnbull become Prime Minister we will seek an urgent meeting with him to chart an appropriate way forward on a reform that he knows is important and urgent. Our preferred path forward remains a free vote in parliament this year.”
Turnbull has yet to comment on the issue, but to be fair, he’s only had a couple of hours to get coffee, gloat, do a victory lap of Parliament House and schedule that meeting with Australian Marriage Equality, so we’ll see how this plays out.
Photo: Samir Hussein via Getty Images
