A sense of why Labor came out of its annual conference last week with an immediate and sharp decrease in support in the polls was provided by Loree Rudd, the elder sister of Labor's former and discarded saviour, Kevin Rudd, after she resigned from the Labor Party on principle.
''Any government honest with its people would take this matter to a referendum after a couple of years of open debate,'' she told her local newspaper in Queensland, the Sunshine Coast Daily.
She was referring to gay marriage. ''It is not an easy issue and shouldn't be swept through in a night sitting. It shouldn't be swept through at a Labor conference when the party has committed to the electorate it will support marriage as it is.''
This is the issue that dominated the ALP national conference. It generates passionate support within sections of the party and the electorate. It is a defining issue for the Greens. It is a debate where personal denigration is routine - ''bigot'' is a default term for many - by people claiming to espouse the cause of tolerance.
All this has created a false sense of urgency, as this week's Herald/Nielsen poll indicated.
An overwhelming majority of Australians oppose discrimination against homosexuals and support giving parliamentarians the freedom of a conscience vote on gay marriage. This consensus is not, however, the same as support for gay marriage.
http://m.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/ga ... 1ouqq.html
So again Skip, I'm not alone with my heartfelt belief gay-marriage (the legislation there of) should be offered as a referendum question to the public.
Gillard has shafted her own in order to get this thing passed quickly, has gone so far as to replace those who oppose it within her own cabinet just short of a vote of conscience and pay rise.
Staff are resigning all over the place, perhaps it's time we asked why this government is so dysfunctional and fractured.
How far will this government go to race contentious and unpopular policy though the back-door without adequate public consult and or even debate?
Not unlike the carbon-tax they shafted us with also.
We the voting public may only decide when enough is enough...sadly, we may have to wait a couple of years or so for this opportunity to breeze past us again next federal election.
Our Governor General Quenton Bryce wants her son-in-law Bill Shorten to take the ALP leadership, so we cant anticipate our GG will put a stop to this government any-time soon.. when it's clear, the ethical implications of a GG maintaining her position in office, with her son as the rising star of the Labor party are obvious to all who see this illegitimate and 'fixed' minority government for what it is.
Corrupt!
consulted ALP & Greens members what they wanted and that was meant to represent all of Australia 
