Liberals could cross floor on gay marriage
AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has indicated he would be comfortable with backbench MPs crossing the floor to legalise same-sex marriage, saying the right to break with party policy is a ‘‘fundamental principle’’ of the Liberal Party.
Turnbull was speaking after two Liberal backbenchers, Trevor Evans and Tim Wilson, left open the possibility of crossing the floor to force a vote on samesex marriage.
‘‘In our party, backbenchers have always had the right to cross the floor,’’ Turnbull said, when asked if he could prevent Evans from siding with the Labor opposition.
‘‘In the Labor Party, you get expelled for doing that. It’s always been a fundamental principle in the Liberal Party and indeed, the National Party.
‘‘So it’s a very different political culture to the very authoritarian Labor Party.’’
Turnbull did not repeat his usual statements that a plebiscite must be held before any vote in Parliament, although government sources say this remains his position.
A Liberal MP who supports same-sex marriage said he was ‘‘sure’’ his colleagues would interpret Turnbull’s comments as permission to cross the floor.
The legalisation of same-sex marriage without a plebiscite is a potential threat to Turnbull’s leadership because of the fury it would likely unleash among Liberal conservatives. The issue could flare up as early as next week when Parliament resumes after a break.
‘‘We do not support a bill relating to gay marriage being brought on until there was a vote of the Australian people,’’ Turnbull said last month. ‘‘We will not support a vote in the Parliament until there has been a plebiscite.’’
The first preference among moderate Liberal MPs is to use a private member’s bill drafted by WAsenator Dean Smith as a trigger for the party room to allow a conscience vote on the issue. If this fails, three MPs could bring on a vote in the House of Representatives by crossing the floor in support of a Labor motion to suspend standing orders.
Wilson, who is gay, said he wanted to see same-sex marriage dealt with soon.
‘‘When you look at my party I think it’s in our best interests to move on from this issue so we can focus on the things that I think people voted for me and for my party to deal with: tax reform, fixing the budget, national security, making sure that we stop terrorism,’’ he told Sky News.
‘‘I am going to talk to my parliamentary colleagues, to my community, as well as to my party members over the next few weeks and talk to them directly about the challenge we face, and let’s be frank, the personal tensions I have on this issue. I always said politely that the plebiscite wasn’t my first preference for a way to deal with this issue.’’
Wilson said he and his colleagues had ‘‘discharged’’ his responsibility to the plebiscite by supporting the legislation to enact it last year.
Evans, who was elected the Member for Brisbane at last year’s federal election, told Fairfax Radio: ‘‘I hope we can do this quickly in a business-like fashion so we can refocus on other priorities.
‘‘Lots of people are speaking up and saying, ‘We need a new way forward’.’’
Evans said the election promise to hold a plebiscite was no longer tenable.
‘‘Our policy wasn’t a stalemate,’’ he said. ‘‘The point of the plebiscite was to deal with the issue by February.’’
He said the time had passed for alternatives and that a free vote in Parliament was the best option.
Australian Marriage Equality chair Alex Greenwich said: ‘‘There seem to be a number of Coalition MPs - Trevor Evans, Jason Wood, Dean Smith, Tim Wilson - who all seem to have clearly identified that this is now the time to move forward on marriage equality.
‘‘The comments of the prime minister should be no surprise - they’re in line not only with the Coalition’s policy, they’re in line with what the former prime minister Tony Abbott said when he said the previous parliament would be the last one in which MPs would be bound.’’
- Fairfax