AUSTRALIA: Labor Leader Bill Shorten Promises Marriage Bill Within 100 Days If Elected Prime Minister Next Year

Gay Star News reports:

Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten has promised to introduce a gay marriage bill within his first 100 days if elected prime minister in 2016. ‘Same-sex couples have waited too long. Australia is trailing the world,’ the Labor Party leader said on Sunday (26 July). ‘The debate about marriage equality has simply gone on too long.’ The pledge came hours after he made a deal with Labor’s left faction to back a binding vote in favor of gay marriage if it is not legalized by the next parliamentary sessions. Shorten said gay marriage could still be legalized by the current parliament and called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to give Liberal MPs a free vote on the issue. ‘What the Labor Party does with this resolution is we lay down the challenge to Mr Abbott and his Liberals: Please give your members of parliament a free vote so we can make marriage equality a reality now,’ Shorten said.

VIDEO: At the same Labor conference openly lesbian MP Penny Wong delivered a forceful speech on marriage equality, receiving a lengthy standing ovation. Watch this.

AUSTRALIA: Opposition Labor Party Leader Bill Shorten To Introduce Marriage Equality Bill Next Week

Via Gay Star News:

Australian Opposition leader Bill Shorten has become the first leader of a major political party to put forward legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Australia just days after more members of the conservative wing of his party announced they now would vote in favor of marriage equality. Shorten, leader of the Australian Labor Party, put his intention in writing earlier today, giving notice to the Parliament that he will table such a bill when the House of Representatives meets on Monday. "I give notice that, at the next sitting I will present a bill for an Act to amend the Marriage Act 1961 to establish marriage equality, and for related purposes," a document signed by Shorten and seconded by deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek reads.

More from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Momentum is building in Parliament for change following Ireland's successful referendum at the weekend. Mr Abbott has conceded he is the last person in his own family to still believe gay and lesbian couples should not be allowed to marry. NSW Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm has introduced a "Freedom to Marry" bill in the Senate but is holding off on bringing on a vote until he can be guaranteed there is enough support in the Parliament. The Greens plan to bring forward a Senate debate on that party's marriage equality bill next month. The party has also set November 12 for a Senate vote, before Parliament rises for the summer. Several key Labor Right figures, including frontbenchers Chris Bowen, Ed Husic and Tony Burke, have recently declared their support for change. But if Liberals are not not allowed to vote freely, there will not be enough numbers to pass the bill.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today predicted that same-sex marriage will be a reality by the end of the year, saying: "I have never seen a social issue which has changed attitudes as rapidly as this one. So my feeling is that it is very likely to pass."

AUSTRAILIA: Prime Minister Endorses Marriage, Suggests National Referendum

During all the hoopla this week, I didn't get to mention that Australia had a change in power. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is back in charge after toppling Julia Gillard as leader of the Labor Party. One day after being re-sworn in and a month after writing a blog post announcing his reversal on marriage, yesterday Rudd used his first press conference to suggest placing the issue to a national vote if the opposition party does not allow a conscience vote in Parliament.  Unsurprisingly, gay activists do not want marriage on the ballot.

Marriage equality advocates are thrilled the Mr Rudd has spoken about the issue in his first major media event, but do not support his call for a public vote. Rodney Croome, the national convenor of Australian Marriage equality, said a process of a referendum would be "unnecessarily expensive". He also said while he believed the majority of Australians would vote for marriage equality, he was concerned was about the process. "We have consistently opposed a national plebiscite or referendum on marriage equality for a number of reasons," Mr Croome said. "It could potentially be deeply polarising, becoming a platform for fear-mongering against the gay and lesbian community, and we think that our politicians are elected to make these kinds of decisions, rather than hand-balling them back to the voters. "It could be quite destructive... particularly for young, same-sex attracted people coming to terms with their sexuality. "They don't need to see the kind of fear and hate campaigns that I feel would inevitably come out during a referendum."

Australia's Labor Party Challenges Its Own PM To Approve Same-Sex Marriage

The Labor Party of Australia is challenging its own Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to pass marriage equality legislation. Rudd has threatened to veto a recently approved law making same-sex marriage legal in the Australian Capitol Territory.

The Australian Labor Party in the state of Victoria passed a resolution in support of marriage equality last weekend. It is supported by ministers and calls for the law to be changed to allow "equal access to marriage, regardless of the gender of either partner". According to the Sydney Morning Herald, it reads: "Victorian Labor believes that people are entitled to respect, equality, dignity and the opportunity to participate in society free from hatred or harassment and receive the protection of the law regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity." Rudd has been a steadfast opponent of gay marriage rights and said this week that his government may veto for a third time laws recognising civil partnership ceremonies in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ACT legalised civil partnerships ceremonies for gay couples earlier this month, making it the first territory in the country to do so.

Australian PM Kevin Rudd: I Said No Gay Marriage And I Meant It

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is "pushing back" against a Labor Party call for the federal government to legalize same-sex marriage.

Mr Rudd says he will not change the policy he took to the last election. "We went to the last election being very clear-cut about our position on marriage under the Marriage Act being between a man and a woman," he said. "We've also said that in terms of all legal discriminations against same-sex partners that we would act to remove them, and the Attorney-General has been hard at work."

The Labor Party's national conference is taking place this week.