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Tony Abbott has said that campaigning against marriage equality should continue long after the end of the postal survey.

The former Prime Minister told an anti-LGBTI group in the US this week that fighting against marriage equality should not stop, Pink News has reported.


Abbott addressed the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTI hate group.

Discussing No campaigners, he said, “Such robust characters, once activated, are unlikely to fade away, and could continue to make their presence felt, even after marriage is no longer an issue, because they’ve had the guts to campaign for a cause they believe in.

“Win, lose, or draw, though, starting from scratch two months ago, the campaign for marriage in my country has mobilised thousands of new activists; and created a network that could be deployed to defend Western civilisation more broadly and the Judeo-Christian ethic against all that’s been undermining it.

“If the traditional stance of the centre-right in the English-speaking tradition is to endure—to be pro-market and to be socially conservative—there has to be people prepared to stand up for beliefs, because if you don’t believe, you won’t fight, and if you don’t fight, you can’t win.”

Abbott said pro-LGBTI events must be countered by “common sense”.

“For every protest march, there must be a solidarity one. For every assertion of identity politics, there must be a defence of the social fabric,” he said.

“For every lobby on the counter-cultural left, there must be one on the common-sense right if even the sensible centre is to hold, for the values of centre-right party MPs can no longer be assumed and often need to be buttressed.”

A prominent spokesperson for the No campaign, Abbott has come under fire for his comments about “transgender marriage” and “radical gay sex education”, as well as suggesting it would be “best” for a straight couple to raise his gay sister’s children.