Is this supposed to be a news story? Basically it amounts to the headline “Man sends email to Baillieu”, which provides a rather flimsey opportunity for the Fairfax media to beat the gay marriage drum once more.
We have a State election coming up here in Victorian in November. As I have mentioned before on this ‘ere blog, I am very impressed by my local member, James Merlino. A Catholic and a man of principle, he is also a minister in the current Labor Government, and this may be the first time in my life that I “cross the floor” and vote Labor. And while I am not particularly impressed by the present government, the paper today did contain two other bits of information. First, the “man sends email” article also contained the closing point that that “Premier John Brumby, like Prime Minister Julia Gillard, is opposed to same-sex marriage”, and a separate article, “Euthanasia Debate Back on the Agenda”, reports:
Premier John Brumby, who has long opposed euthanasia laws, said there were no plans for the government to re-examine the matter, or refer the issue to the law commission.
That doesn’t entirely reassure me, but makes me feel a bit better about my current voting intention.
Keep an eye on Western Australia today too – and a pray for their government. They are voting on Euthanasia legislation there today.
Schutz James Merlino may be a good catholic etc but in the current State Government he would be one of the few. My concern is that the ALP will do anything to stay in power and will do adeal with the toxic Greens ,just look at the appalling support Greens MP Colleen Hartland gave to Abortion law Reform and she is sounding like the same for Euthanasia. i know that Right to life will be giivng out the voting intentions of candidates ,and i will follow that ,however the Brimby Government needs to get kicked out-they have been in too long and there is a smell of arrogance ,incompetence and secrecy around them. I said the same for the Kennett Government and did vote Labor but never again
But what assurance do we have that a Liberal Baillieu-led government would be any different?
I do not know but we do need a change :
trains to run on time.
a new dam to be built
child protection to be better handled.
Hospitals handling surgical waiting lists better.
Weed the Greens from the Garden State
Yes i know the LNP did the same but we need a change other wise the words “good and Government” could not be used as an adjective
The irony is, Matthias, that the Greens could go down in a screaming heap because they sided with Labor (not likely to happen with the conservatives).
Remember what happened to the Dems when they actually exercised some power over the GST? That was the beginning of the end. They were no longer ‘pure and powerless’ and many of their tentative supporters objected to the deal making.
I suspect this period of federal parliament will test if the Greens have a sustainable support base or it’s more of a protest vote.
This ‘leadership’ goes missing when moral issues come to the fore. So called conscience votes are the political equivelant of a parent leaving the kids squabble about matters inconsequential to their wellbeing or the wellbeing of the family, in order to avoid the uncomfortable position of seeming authoritarian on issues you don’t think matter at all.
Our pollys talk big about leadership and tough decisions when they are talking finance, taxes, workchoices etc. Admittedly there are moral issues involved, but their ducking out on leadership in moral matters displays soemthing FAR more serious than the ’email’ accuses them of.
I don’t believe it shows that some leaders secretly believe in same sex marriage but are suppressing this view to preserve votes. I think is shows us that, while they may have a passing opinion on the matter one way or the other, they simply don’t think it is important enough to bother with.
THIS is what both sides of the argument should find outrageous and insulting. To be treated as if this central debate, concerning the basic building block of all of society – The Family – is not important enough to take any political risks with, in either direction.
Save that kind of risk for really important things… like tax.
Source
Of course it’s news, David! This was not just a ‘man’ as you described him, it was a prominent member of the party in the context of an immanent election.
It would be news if a Labor insider, even an anonymous one, leaked information that was damaging to the leader. In fact I think there was a case of that happening on the federal scene recently …
Just because it’s about and issue that pushes your buttons, doesn’t mean it’s not news.
Your shrill headline is a pretty good example of getting a little carried away. Are you sure you’re not a closet sub-editor?
Headlines for a story are as important in a blog as it is for a newspaper! The idea is to capture attention. Perhaps you have identified a hidden skill…
There you go, David, I’m good for something!
With respect Tony ,are you always so ornery??
With respect Matthias, I don’t accept the premise of your question and, even if I did, I think the quote attributed to Michael J Fox is apposite: ‘What other people think of me is none of my business’.
;-)
What about that marxist quote (Groucho) “Iwould not join any club that has me for a member’?
“I cannot say that I do not disagree with you” — Groucho Marx