By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservative coalition government on Tuesday blocked its members from voting in favor of gay marriage, a politically risky move that effectively rules out a marriage equality bill passing under his government. Abbott’s ruling conservative coalition all but doomed legislation that would allow gay marriage by refusing to allow its lawmakers a free vote on the issue.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Wednesday that Australians would get a chance to vote on legalizing gay marriage if they re-elect his government next year, a promise his opponents argue is a stalling tactic to sideline the divisive issue ahead of the general elections.

Abbott effectively killed off chances of marriage equality until after next year’s elections, as two-thirds of coalition lawmakers supported his demand they vote as a bloc against such unions. But the six-hour debate exposed a divide even among Cabinet members.

“Abbott’s position is weaker now than it was just a few days ago,” said Haydon Manning, a politics professor at Flinders University in Adelaide. “He’s shored up his political base but at the cost of creating a noisy split in the ranks that may overwhelm his main message of being able to deliver good government.”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott addressed the media Tuesday, outlining his decision and answering questions regarding the meeting of the full coalition party.

“If you support the existing definition of marriage between a man and a woman, the coalition is absolutely on your side but if you would like to see change at some time in the future, the coalition is prepared to make that potentially possible,” Abbott told reporters after the near six-hour meeting, suggesting a public referendum on the matter.

Abbott extended an olive branch to marriage equality advocates, offering to allow the public to vote on gay marriage in a plebiscite if his government retains power at the next election. “The disposition is that it should happen through a people’s vote rather than simply through a parliament vote,” said Abbott.

Australia has become increasingly isolated among English-speaking nations on same-sex marriage. Ireland backed marriage equality in a May referendum and the U.S. Supreme Court in June recognized same-sex unions; Abbott’s conservative allies in U.K. and New Zealand, leaders David Cameron and John Key, support marriage equality.

Despite the ruling party decision, one government lawmaker, backbencher Warren Entsch, plans to introduce a private-member’s bill to Parliament on Monday that would allow same-sex marriage. But Enstch and other supporters concede that any bill will fail because government lawmakers will not be allowed to vote freely.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten, who introduced a same-sex marriage bill in June, has not given up hope that the Parliament will legalize gay marriage before the next election.

“When it comes time, if he gets re-elected at the next election, you can forget about marriage equality,” Shorten said. “The choice in this country is you either have Mr. Abbott or you have marriage equality. But you can’t have both.”

For more information, please see:

 

ABC News — Australians to Vote on Gay Marriage If Government Elected — 12 August 2015

BBC News — Australian gays ‘will never be able to wed under Abbott’ — 12 August 2015

Wall Street Journal — Australia’s Abbott Under Fire After Gay-Marriage Vote Blocked — 12 August 2015

Bloomberg — Abbott Crushes Gay Marriage Hopes as Party Ructions Exposed — 11 August 2015

Reuters — Australia ruling party blocks members from voting for gay marriage — 11 August 2015