Gay marriage: Labor's Tanya Plibersek to introduce private members bill

Updated

Labor will introduce a private members bill aimed at legalising gay marriage, in a move designed to pressure Prime Minister Tony Abbott into deciding on whether Government MPs will be allowed a conscience vote.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek took the bill to Caucus this morning for approval from her colleagues.

The draft legislation is practically the same as the private members bill the then government MP, Stephen Jones, proposed to the last Parliament, which was overwhelmingly defeated in 2012.

Ms Plibersek will seek to introduce the bill early this year but it will be up to the Government, which has the numbers, to bring on any Parliamentary debate.

"Marriage equality's time has well and truly come," Ms Plibersek said in a statement.

"The proposal for this bill follows the High Court's confirmation that 'marriage' in the Australian Constitution includes a marriage between persons of the same sex."

Ms Plibersek wants a Liberal MP to co-sponsor the bill if they are granted a conscience vote, but the ABC understands Ms Plibersek will accept a seconder from the Opposition if no-one in the Government can be found.

Abbott opposes changes to Marriage Act

The move will spark a fresh round of debate within the Coalition about gay marriage, with more Government MPs publicly declaring their support for marriage equality but bound by the party’s position.

Mr Abbott opposes any change to the Marriage Act but has left open the prospect of allowing his MPs a free vote pending a partyroom debate, which is now more likely as a result of the bill.

Debate on gay marriage has led to heated tensions between some conservatives and some moderates within the Government.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten denies the Labor Party is playing politics by trying to refocus attention on the Coalition’s internal differences.

He says it is "remarkable" that the Liberal Party, which prides itself on giving MPs a free vote, insists on "binding" its members when it comes to gay marriage.

Mr Shorten has issued a challenge to the Prime Minister to let the entire Parliament vote according to their beliefs.

The Greens say they will co-sponsor Ms Plibersek's bill but are warning Labor against "rushing" in a second bill only to have it defeated before a consensus can be reached in the Parliament.

Labor MPs raise concerns over mining tax, asylum seekers and Qantas

Meanwhile, in a partyroom meeting this morning, Labor MPs raised a number of concerns, ranging from the mining tax, independent oversight of Australia’s offshore processing centres and the management of Qantas.

But Caucus has unanimously agreed to support a Government regulation to scrap the upcoming auctions of carbon units.

A Labor source says if the Greens try to disallow the government regulation, the Opposition will vote with the Government and not the Greens as it reflects their position to move to an emissions trading scheme by July this year.

Opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler says Labor remains committed to terminating the carbon tax "provided an effective plan to combat carbon pollution is put in its place".

"Labor will not change its position on capping pollution," he said.

Western Australian Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan urged the party to reconsider its support for the mining tax but was rebuffed by Mr Shorten who said the party's position would not be changing.

Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, received several questions about the need to establish independent oversight of the offshore processing centres for asylum seekers.

He told the party room any independent oversight would require the co-operation of the governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea and reminded MPs that Labor’s resettlement plan, which is being continued by the Coalition Government, is "saving lives".

Several MPs spoke about the management at Qantas and criticised the board for not being "pro-jobs".

Speaking a short time later, Mr Shorten said he would not be engaging in "management bashing" but was eagerly waiting to see what the Government would do.

He said Labor would not allow a foreign takeover of the airline.

Topics: lgbt, community-and-society, marriage, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia

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