A crossbench bill for an immediate vote on marriage equality has been backed by Cathy McGowan, but she says it does not mean she has turned her back on a plebiscite.
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The Indi MP went into the election campaign with a policy to support same-sex marriage, via the Coalition’s method of a plebiscite to gauge public opinion.
She then joined fellow cross-bench MPs Adam Bandt and Andrew Wilke on the first sitting day of parliament to give notice of a motion calling on the parliament to have a free vote instead.
“For me it’s not about either/or, it’s about different options,” Ms McGowan told The Border Mail on Wednesday.
“I just wanted to give the government a chance to have a vote now … if the government has a plebiscite, I’ll still support it.”
The three MPs put forward a similar bill during the previous term of federal parliament, but it lapsed after July’s election.
Although Ms McGowan said a plebiscite should only be “plan B” she did not expect the Coalition to change its mind.
“It’s a bit of a long shot, but it’s worth a shot,” she said.
“The plebiscite, I think, will still go ahead … at the end of the day, this will be a conscience vote in Parliament.”
The MP said she was not worried about public perception of which side she supported, but about saving the angst of a long debate around the merits of marriage equality.
“I think there’s mixed opinions and I think there’s a lot of feeling that we can’t waste money,” Ms McGowan said.
“People are worried the plebiscite is not binding and is just tokenistic.”
The Border’s Hume Phoenix co-convenor Toni Johnson said the majority of the LGBTIQ community did not want a plebiscite on marriage equality.
“More people are scared than want it to go through,” she said.
“We fear it’s a waste of money, it’s a chance for hate campaigns to come out.
“We have enough mental health issues around.”
Ms Johnson said she was not worried abandoning the plebiscite would delay marriage equality because the campaign had already been progressing quickly over the past few years.
“It’s going to go through really quickly, we’ve got to keep fighting,” she said.
“It’s just human rights, we’ just want equality.”
Australian Christian Lobby Victorian director Dan Flynn said this week Victorian laws allowing transgender people to remain married after their transition, in a same-sex relationship, were part of a “campaign to deconstruct society’s gender norms”.
