Australia - 7 September 2013

[DL]

I suggest that the ALP do that the BC Liberals did when similarly unpopular - run a relentlessly negative campaign that is full of personal attacks and innuendo about Tony Abbott and make people scared sh**tless about what an Abbott-led government would actually mean for Australia. Wasn't it in 1993 that the ALP was supposed to lose and they unexpectedly won by making people scared of what John Howard would do...

[DL]

Can someone explain to me how it is that gay marriage is even the least bit controversial within the ALp - let alone within Australia as a whole. Same sex marriage is now legal in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, many US states, France etc... etc... and not only that but in mots of the countries being in favour of gay marriage is now almost a sine qua non of being a modern progressive/left of centre party. In Canada, there is literally NO ONE of any rank in the NDP who is against equal marriage and the last time anyone was (Bev Desjarlais) she was punished and was never renominated.

How is it that the Australian Labour Party which has done a lot of progressive things over the years and is allied with parties like the NDP and Labor in the UK and NZ and the German SPD etc... can even allow anti-gay bigots to exist in their party?? Why not simply tell them all they are persona non grata and say "god riddance" - who would shed a tear?

[DL]

Because thankfully in Australia, there are unions that not only stand up for workers rights, but also for traditional family values. Many socially conservative unionists hold very high ranking positions within the party. If Labor decides to say "good riddance" to their very numerous anti gay marriage members, there will be internal bloodshed of the highest order. It won't go down too well with voters in some Labor areas either.

In "civilized" countries like Canada, the UK, the US, New Zealand - trade unions are in the forefront leading the charge in FAVOUR of ending discrimination against gays and lesbians. In Canada the Autoworkers and the Steelworkers were 100% pro-equal marriage before it was even fashionable and my understanding is that in the UK and the US organized labour tends to now be almost unanimously pushing for an end to discrimination and LGBT people. Why are unions in Australia being left in the dust? I have seen polls on public opinion in Australia on these issues and Australians themselves seem to be far more progressive on gay equality than are their politicians.

In the case of Julia Gillard, I assume that (like Barack Obama) she has probably been privately and personally 100% in favour of equal marriage her entire adult life. She probably was just too much of an opportunist to want to be a "trailblazer" on that issue and instead wanted to wait until there was more of a national consensus.

[DL]

At any rate, the momentum towards marriage equality across the western world is now so fast and so unstoppable - I give Australia 2 or 3 years at most and then Aussies won't want to feel like they are to gay-equality like what South Africa was to civil rights in the 1980s and it will quickly become a fait accompli...and 5 years from now, people will be embarrassed that it took them so long to get with the program.

[DL]

I think Shorten is the presumptive favourite, but there's a fairly long list of possibilities.

Bill Shorten was a guest speaker at the federal NDP convention in Montreal in April and gave a fantastic speech that was very well received.