Australian govt backs away from same-sex marriage vote this year
A SPOKESWOMAN FOR TURNBULL SAID THE GOVT WAS COMMITTED TO HOLDING A PLEBISCITE BUT HAD NOT COMMITTED TO THE TIMING
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed away from a pledge by one of his senior ministers on Sunday that the government would hold a public vote on same-sex marriage later this year if it is reelected.
A spokeswoman for Turnbull said the government was committed to holding a plebiscite, or public vote, as soon as possible after the election but had not committed further to the timing.
Attorney-general George Brandis had earlier said the vote would occur before the end of the year and that the legislation would immediately be pushed through parliament if the public voted in favour of same-sex marriage.
“We will be going to the election promising a plebiscite before the end of the year,” Brandis told Sky News.
The confusion adds to perceived instability in Turnbull’s conservative Coalition government, just days after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce called for government unity.
Turnbull, who became leader in a party room coup in late 2015, is under pressure on several policy fronts including tax and climate issues as his opinion poll ratings plummet ahead of the election and a critical budget.
Some of the party instability has been blamed on the man he toppled, former prime minister Tony Abbott, who remains powerful within the conservative faction of the government. BEIJING: China will never allow the tragedy of Taiwan being “split” off from the rest of the country to happen again state media on Sunday quoted President Xi Jinping as saying offering a strong warning to the island against any moves towards independence.
China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.
Beijing has repeatedly warned against any moves towards inde pendence since January’s land slide win by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Meeting with Shanghai del egates to the annual meeting of parliament, Xi made apparent reference to the Qing dynasty’s loss of Taiwan to Japan in 1895 who then ruled the island as a colony until the end of World War Two.
“We will resolutely contain ‘Taiwan independence’ seces sionist activities in any form safeguard the country’s sover eignty and territorial integrity and never allow the historical tragedy of the nation being split to happen again,” Xi said. “This is the common wish and firm will of all Chinese people. It is also our solemn commitment and our responsibility to history and