Tony Abbott, who won power two years ago on Monday, is most at home in combat, whether on the domestic campaign trail or escalating Australia’s commitment to a battle abroad.
Tony Abbott has flagged a plebiscite, or ‘people’s vote’, on same-sex marriage.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Every generation in the last 150 years has seen in Australia a contest over marriage which reflects shifting positions on its defining features, and its associated rights and obligations.
Former prime minister Julia Gillard said she had been so concerned about the same-sex marriage plebiscite that she changed the topic of her speech.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
At the heart of the debate around the language of marriage is a conflict about whether a marriage between same-sex partners is the same or different to a marriage between opposite sex partners.
Katy Faust, traditional marriage advocate, speaking on Q&A.
Q&A
Katy Faust, a US traditional marriage advocate, told Q&A that children have a natural right to a mother and a father, highlighting weaknesses in studies on same-sex parented children. Let’s check the facts.
We cannot attribute a particular characteristic, whether positive or negative, to religion as religion does not have the ability to act.
EPA
Malcolm Turnbull and Christopher Pyne were the only ministers on the frontbench in the House of Representatives when Liberal backbencher Warren Entsch introduced his private member’s bill to legalise same-sex…
Many commentators on climate change articles in this publication have abandoned hope that effective action on climate change will happen under an Abbott government. The only solution for those concerned…
Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro says a same-sex marriage conscience vote would be “democracy in its purest form”.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro has declared that on same-sex marriage “party political positions should be abandoned in favour of what each person’s conscience tells them”.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected the idea of having a same-sex marriage plebiscite at the next election.
Glenn Hunt/AAP
New polling has shown almost seven in ten Australians favour legalising same-sex marriage, as Tony Abbott rules out a popular vote with the election and the government remains racked by division. Far from…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has suffered another poll blow.
Glenn Hunt/AAP
On Tuesday, August 11, prospects for same-sex marriage legislation in Australia in the near future were quashed when the governing Coalition partyroom voted against a conscience vote in favour of maintaining…
Commissioner Dyson Heydon during a hearing of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in Sydney.
Jeremy Piper/AAP
Ministerial divisions have broken spectacularly into the open over whether Tony Abbott’s proposed popular vote on same-sex marriage should be a plebiscite or a constitutional referendum.
Both major parties have had members involved in expenses scandals over the last week. Although these scandals would usually result in a “pox on both your houses” effect, this time Labor has been the clear…
Religious arguments in opposition to same-sex marriage have been less explicit in Australia’s current debate.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Prominent arguments against same-sex marriage have been based on history, tradition, human rights, and social scientific research into health and welfare. The role of religion has been less explicit.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s same-sex marriage plebiscite idea.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Tony Abbott is burnishing his lines for a popular vote on same-sex marriage in the next term, if he wins one. Abbott told parliament on Wednesday: “Going into the next election there will be two parties…
What options is Australia left with for same-sex marriage rights?
Alex Bainbridge/AAP
Tony Abbott raised several possibilities on Australia’s road to achieving same-sex marriage. But the only way Australia will get there is through parliament.
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity