Mark Dreyfus says Labor will only consider supporting same-sex marriage plebiscite if public funding scrapped by Coalition

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has criticised Malcolm Turnbull and the attorney general, George Brandis, for their continued silence over last week’s reports that Liberal party members were caught distributing misleading anti-marriage equality pamphlets in Sydney.

Dreyfus met Brandis on Monday morning in Brisbane to discuss the government’s proposed same-sex marriage plebiscite.

Hours before the meeting, he said Labor would consider supporting the plebiscite only if the government scrapped public funding for the yes and no campaigns.

But he said Turnbull and Brandis would not be able to compromise on that point, because the National party leader, Barnaby Joyce, and conservatives including Eric Abetz and George Christensen had insisted on public funding.

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“I haven’t heard any response from Mr Turnbull or from Senator Brandis to the offensive material that was distributed by members of the Liberal party in northern Sydney late last week,” Dreyfus told ABC radio on Monday.

“That’s an indication of what this plebiscite would involve and they just have not come to grips with that at all.

“When you’ve got members of the government’s own party distributing offensive material, and no response from Mr Turnbull, no response from Senator Brandis, that doesn’t give confidence.

“The whole essence of the no campaign is going to be one which says treat some of our citizens as less than equal. It’s implicit that there’ll be offence given.”

The pamphlets were distributed last week by a group called Children’s Future, whose three directors are Liberal party members, Fairfax Media reported.

The pamphlets falsely claimed a change to the Marriage Act to allow same-sex marriage would trigger the “compulsory” adoption of the Safe Schools program in all Australian schools.

“The radical ‘Safe Schools’ content will become compulsory in all schools and anti-discrimination laws will be used against parents who object,” the group claimed.

Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday that the ball was in Labor’s court on same-sex marriage.

“It’s up to the Labor party to tell us what they propose,” he said. “If you have something to put to us, we’ll listen carefully and consider it.”

Dreyfus said there were no signs Brandis would be able to offer anything in Monday’s meeting that would allay the concerns expressed by Labor and the LGBTI community about how the no campaign would be run.

The treasurer, Scott Morrison, said on Monday Bill Shorten was the only person standing in the way of the plebiscite going ahead.

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“If the Labor party doesn’t turn up, or won’t start articulating what are the things that they say need to be changed in order for them to support [the plebiscite], well I can’t find it that they’re terribly genuine in really trying to resolve this issue,” he told 2GB radio.

“If there are issues they think need to be addressed to pass it, well, list them, provide that list.

“There’s no doubt about our policy on this, it’s the most democratic way to resolve it and they should stop peering down their nose at Australians who they don’t think are capable of having an adult conversation about this issue.”

The trade minister, Steve Ciobo, repeated the same line on the ABC. He said Labor should respect the ability of Australians to have a mature, rational conversation. They don’t need Bill Shorten and the Labor party looking down their nose at them,” Ciobo said.

Responding to Morrison’s suggestion the opposition should provide a list of its demands, Labor’s equality spokeswoman, Terri Butler, told Guardian Australia “we don’t have a shopping list of issues we will compromise on”.

“They want us to vote for their plebiscite, so they have to make the case ... we don’t have a list of demands, they have an ask,” she said. “If the case for us to vote for the plebiscite is ‘you have to pass it or there’ll be no marriage equality’ – that’s blackmail.”

Brandis told Fairfax Media same-sex marriage could be delayed until the 2020s if the plebiscite were blocked. Butler said this amounted to an “admission the government could not deliver a social reform that enjoys majority support” and Brandis had “caved to the rightwing of his party”.

Responding to a report in Guardian Australia the government was considering very broad exemptions to anti-discrimination law to protect “conscientious objectors”, Butler said one of Labor’s concerns is “what changes the substantive bill might make”.

Analysis of the ABC’s Vote Compass data has found only one electorate in Australia with a majority of voters opposed to same-sex marriage, Fairfax Media reported.



The study – based on 2013 data, adjusted for demographic changes – will be presented this week at the Australian Political Studies Association conference at the University of NSW. The survey received almost 1.5m responses, but does not necessarily represent a random sample of voters.

It found five of the 10 electorates most opposed to same-sex marriage were in Queensland.

They are: Maranoa (LNP, David Littleproud), Groom (LNP, John McVeigh), Flynn (LNP, Ken O’Dowd), Hinkler (LNP, Keith Pitt), and Kennedy (Katter’s Australian Party, Bob Katter).

Maranoa was the only electorate with a majority opposed to same-sex marriage.