Advocates have called on the Government to set a timetable for allowing a free vote on marriage equality. The call comes in the wake of today’s government party room where the issue was not raised despite a cross bench bill being brought on for debate later this week.
“The Government has missed an excellent opportunity to honour its pre-election promise and its own principles by allowing a free vote on marriage equality,” said Rodney Croome, Australian Marriage Equality National Director. “It is has also ignored the 72% of Australians who support marriage equality and the 1,773,088 emails sent to government members by supporters of marriage equality since Friday.”
“Government MPs who went to the last election as supporters of marriage equality are being placed in an impossible position by a party that refuses to allow them to fulfil their commitment to voters. A marriage equality free vote is unfinished business. We call on the Government to set a timetable for debate on a free vote so that Australians can have certainty on a reform we overwhelmingly support.”
Mr Croome thanked the many thousands of marriage equality supporters who have emailed government members since Friday. 13,232 individuals sent 1,773,088 emails through AME’s free vote website, while 3123 individuals sent emails through the Get Up! website, and 28,373 people signed its free vote petition. Since February, 1217 calls have been made to AME’s Equality Calling phone line that directs voice messages to local MPs and Senators.
Mr Croome questioned the Australian Christian Lobby claim that 20,000 people sent 2,000,000 emails through its website. “Unlike our web-form, the ACL’s doesn’t have an inbuilt validation device, opening up the possibility for its email count to be corrupted by computer-generated manipulation.”
For more information, visit: www.australianmarriageequality.org for details.