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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/oct/11/labor-expected-to-lock-in-opposition-to-marriage-equality-plebiscite-politics-live
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| Version 5 | Version 6 |
|---|---|
| Labor commits to blocking marriage equality plebiscite – politics live | Labor commits to blocking marriage equality plebiscite – politics live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 2.13am BST | |
| 02:13 | |
| Nice, Mike. | |
| 2.09am BST | |
| 02:09 | |
| Finally Bill Shorten is asked about criticising Turnbull for keeping a plebiscite promise, knowing that the right wing of his party insisted on maintaining the plebiscite promise. | |
| Just because you have a few National party MPs threatening to bring down the government, that’s Mr Turnbull’s problem. But that’s not Australia’s problem and my problem. My issue is marriage equality. I don’t have to do what the extreme right of the National and Liberal Party do. Mr Turnbull made that bed a long time ago. He has to lie in it now. He signed up to Tony Abbott’s agenda, he signed up to Tony Abbott’s plebiscite. He has to live with his conscience. | |
| 2.01am BST | |
| 02:01 | |
| Bill Shorten says he will work with the crossbenchers, the Greens, the Liberals to have a vote in the parliament. Just not a plebiscite. | |
| We will work with anyone to achieve marriage equality. We will work with the Liberals to have the vote but the point about it is a plebiscite is the wrong path to achieve marriage equality. | |
| 1.57am BST | |
| 01:57 | |
| Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus goes into the draft marriage amendments which exempt both religious organisations and civil celebrants from performing marriage ceremonies for same sex couples. | |
| Dreyfus has a problem with the civil exemptions. | |
| Labor has always said that no minister of religion should be compelled to perform a religious ceremony against the tenets of their faith. That should go without saying. But civil celebrants are licensed by the commonwealth of Australia to carry out civil ceremonies which don’t have a religious component. That’s the basis of them being civil celebrants. That’s why 70 % of Australians choose civil celebrants because they don’t want to be married in a religious ceremony. | |
| 1.53am BST | |
| 01:53 | |
| Bill Shorten is rolling out the reasons why Labor is not supporting the plebiscite and we are all familiar with these. And he says the latest release by Brandis of amendments shows Labor was right not to rush into supporting the plebiscite bill because the government keeps changing the goalposts. | |
| Imagine if we had been foolish enough to rush into this decision and support a plebiscite then we find out that the plan which Brandis and Turnbull had, again caving in to the right, is to water down discrimination laws. Of course Labor supports religious freedom in this country but there are already laws in place to prevent discrimination. What sort of case are Turnbull and Brandis putting up when they are asking us to agree to their legislation, then at 11pm, the night before, they drop out legislation changing the rules of the game mid-game? | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.55am BST | |
| 1.47am BST | |
| 01:47 | |
| Shorten's surrounded by families at his presser. He says he couldn't look at families & say the plebiscite was good for them @gabriellechan | |
| 1.46am BST | |
| 01:46 | |
| Shorten says he could not in good conscience recommend Labor support the plebiscite #auspol @gabriellechan #PoliticsLive | |
| 1.45am BST | |
| 01:45 | |
| Bill Shorten has also made some changes to his shadow cabinet following Stephen Conroy’s retirement. | |
| Following this morning’s caucus meeting, I have appointed senator Don Farrell as the deputy leader of the opposition in the Senate. | |
| Senator Farrell will also take on shadow cabinet responsibilities of shadow special minister of state and shadow minister for sport. | |
| Senator Farrell is an experienced member of Labor’s senate team and a passionate advocate for South Australia. Our team will benefit greatly from Senator Farrell’s steady hand and his calm resolve. | |
| In addition, Ed Husic will add digital economy and future of work to his current responsibilities. | |
| “Steady hand and calm resolve”. | |
| Qualifications? “Godfather”. Powerbroker. Faceless man. He rose without a trace. | |
| What a message to send to young up-and-comers in the Labor party. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.55am BST | |
| 1.30am BST | 1.30am BST |
| 01:30 | 01:30 |
| Since the Labor decision, I am chasing whether the plebiscite bill will still be debated in the House today. It was go to the House this afternoon and the Senate tomorrow but the Senate and the House will be taken up mid-morning tomorrow with a visit from the prime minister of Singapore. | Since the Labor decision, I am chasing whether the plebiscite bill will still be debated in the House today. It was go to the House this afternoon and the Senate tomorrow but the Senate and the House will be taken up mid-morning tomorrow with a visit from the prime minister of Singapore. |
| If you were Malcolm Turnbull, you would want the issue to go away, given it is 17 types of hard. We await the Coalition’s reaction. In the meantime, we can only hear the birds chirping. | If you were Malcolm Turnbull, you would want the issue to go away, given it is 17 types of hard. We await the Coalition’s reaction. In the meantime, we can only hear the birds chirping. |
| As an aside, are these: | As an aside, are these: |
| a) crows | a) crows |
| b) ravens | b) ravens |
| c) currawongs | c) currawongs |
| d) other. | d) other. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.39am BST | at 1.39am BST |
| 1.12am BST | 1.12am BST |
| 01:12 | 01:12 |
| While I hate to send you in a different direction, my colleague Helen Davidson is doing the live blog of the Northern Territory’s royal commission into juvenile detention. | While I hate to send you in a different direction, my colleague Helen Davidson is doing the live blog of the Northern Territory’s royal commission into juvenile detention. |
| And, for those who follow state politics, it has been confirmed that the New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, has backed down on the greyhound racing ban. | And, for those who follow state politics, it has been confirmed that the New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, has backed down on the greyhound racing ban. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.22am BST | at 1.22am BST |
| 1.09am BST | 1.09am BST |
| 01:09 | 01:09 |
| So where are we at? We will have no movement on marriage equality for some time to come. As the National MP Andrew Broad broadcast this morning, the conservative end of the Coalition will not cop a free vote in the parliament. | So where are we at? We will have no movement on marriage equality for some time to come. As the National MP Andrew Broad broadcast this morning, the conservative end of the Coalition will not cop a free vote in the parliament. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.23am BST | at 1.23am BST |
| 1.07am BST | 1.07am BST |
| 01:07 | 01:07 |
| The Greens are also coming up at 12.30pm. | The Greens are also coming up at 12.30pm. |
| 1.03am BST | 1.03am BST |
| 01:03 | 01:03 |
| Here is one Mike Bowers prepared earlier. | Here is one Mike Bowers prepared earlier. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.48am BST | |