MALCOLM Turnbull’s muddle over same-sex marriage continues to deepen.
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The government’s plan for a plebiscite on marriage equality looks set to founder since the Labor opposition announced it would not support the move. That could kill the move in the Senate.
Labor supports same-sex marriage, but opposes the plebiscite which many see as a wasteful $160 million Coalition tactic to delay awarding marriage equality.
Progressives across Australia – even those who traditionally vote Labor – celebrated Mr Turnbull’s rise to leadership of the Liberal Party as a critical step in finally securing the passage of same-sex marriage legislation.
He has long been a vocal supporter of marriage equality and his Sydney electorate is home to one of the country’s largest gay and lesbian populations.
His stance often put him in opposition even with his own Coalition colleagues but it was hoped his arrival at The Lodge would finally end years of inaction in this area.
That has not proved to be the case.
Instead, Mr Turnbull has found himself held hostage by many of the more conservative MPs in his own party room who remain determined to block marriage reforms for as long as they can.
It was those same politicians who demanded the Coalition go to the July election with a policy of running the plebiscite if returned to government – a position voters sense Mr Turnbull has never been comfortable with.
He only agreed to it to secure the numbers he needed to roll Tony Abbott as PM last year.
Increasingly, though, it looks like the issue of same-sex marriage is in danger of going down the same path as the republic debate almost 20 years ago when disagreements over process won out over the general consensus.
Polls in 1999 showed most Australians supported a republic but the referendum was defeated on the question of just how an Australian president should be elected.
Similarly, polls in recent years have consistently showed majority support for same-sex marriage but the issue has been stalled by a debate over whether it should first go to a plebiscite before a vote on the floor of parliament.
The only winners are opponents of same-sex marriage who must be barely able to believe their luck at the way this debacle is playing out.