Julia Gillard has left gay marriage advocates deeply disappointed Australian marriage equality advocates are expressing deep disappointment at indications from Prime Minister Julia Gillard that she may not respect a motion at December's National Labor Conference in favour of allowing same-sex marriages. In an interview with Sky News, Gillard went further than her long-running policy of allowing the issue of same-sex marriage to be dealt with by the ALP National Conference, saying instead that the Conference does not set Government policy. "What the National Conference does is it sets the platform, the aspirations for our political party, but always government, Labor Caucus in government, makes decisions on government policy," Gillard said. Australian Marriage Equality National Convener Alex Greenwich says if the Labor Party adopts a pro-equality position, in line with the overwhelming majority of Australians, the Prime Minister must respect the position and allow reform. "Ms Gillard is not the President of Australia - she owes her position to the Labor Party and must respect its democratic processes," he says. "Frankly, the 13 million Australians who support marriage equality are getting sick and tired of Ms Gillard telling us that her antiquated personal views on the issue carry more weight than ours." Labor conferences in Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory have all passed motions supporting marriage equality with New South Wales expected to follow this weekend. Opinion polls show that 62 per cent of Australians and 74 per cent of Labor voters believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, while 75 per cent believe the reform is inevitable.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 8th July 2011 - 10:48am