In news that might come as a tiny bit of a surprise to you, Fairfax is reporting this morning that none other than Peter Dutton, human potato and heir-apparent to the conservative throne in the Liberal Party, is secretly pushing through marriage equality from behind the scenes.
Hmmm. Yep, Dutton – the same bloke who last week lambasted CEOs and companies who publicly back marriage equality – is apparently pulling the strings behind the curtain to ensure that its a Coalition government that ends up passing same-sex marriage.
Dutton apparently told his colleagues that same-sex marriage would continue to be an issue up until the election unless the Coalition did something about it – and that it would be preferable for a Coalition government to pass it so that they could include religious exemptions and protections. He reportedly believes that it’s inevitable it will happen one way or another.
He is reportedly still opposed to marriage equality personally, and just wants to clear the issue off the table before the election. It’s also worth noting that Dutton is considered – horrifyingly – to be a favourite to replace Turnbull if he loses the election or gets knifed along the way.
So it’s worth noting that even if this report is true and Dutton really is scheming to get marriage equality passed, he’s not doing it out of some profound respect for LGBTQIA+ Australians – he’s doing it because he wants his party to win. And it’s pretty likely he’d be keen to be at the top of the food chain when they do.
Dutton and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann are both reportedly behind a push for a postal vote plebiscite. A postal plebiscite is pretty strongly opposed by marriage equality campaigners, but pro-marriage equality MPs within the Coalition reckon its a good way to make it happen without breaking election promises.
A spokesperson for Dutton told the Sydney Morning Herald that he is sticking to his guns on the plebiscite, and wouldn’t comment on any other backroom machinations:
The position of our party was made very clear at the last election, that is that we would go to a plebiscite, we would ask the Australian people what their position would be and the issue would be dealt with subsequent to that.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Getty Images.
