David Leyonhjelm UPDATED: An Australian Senator will introduce his marriage equality legislation today - despite Tony Abbott advising him not to. "His argument was that the government's got enough troubles without this one coming along," Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm has told media today. The Senator, who sits on the crossbenches, will introduce his bill at around 3PM Australian time, but delay a vote until he is confident it will succeed. Leyonhjelm believes there’s enough support in the Coalition for a free vote. "There's some people I think will become quite vocal if they're not allowed a conscience vote," he says. The Bill would change the Marriage Act to define marriage as "the union of two people". Placing it before Parliament will mean it can be debated by the Coalition’s ‘party room’. Marriage equality advocates believe they’d have the support of up to 70 per cent of the Coalition for marriage equality, if a conscience vote was allowed. In New Zealand, MPs from parties other than New Zealand First were able to vote as they wished on marriage equality, which allowed it to pass. Successive Australian moves towards same-sex marriage have been knocked back due to the lack of a conscience vote. Australian Marriage Equality deputy director, Ivan Hinton-Teoh, is calling on Tony Abbott to allow the Coalition a free vote. "Our lobbying gives us confidence there is majority support for a free vote in Coalition ranks, and now is the time for Coalition supporters of a free vote to speak out,” Hinton-Teoh says. "Australians want our country to rejoin the company of nations, like the UK, the US, Canada and New Zealand, that already allow same-sex couples to marry. "It's embarrassing that same-sex couples can marry in places like Utah and Oklahoma, but not Australia. "Let's get this done so Australia can embrace equality and move on."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 26th November 2014 - 8:48am