NZ Minister tells Australia to “get on with” marriage equality
Image: Photo: Facebook / Nikki Kaye.
New Zealand鈥檚 Education Minister, Nikki Kaye, has told Australia to follow her country鈥檚 lead and 鈥済et on with鈥� legalising marriage equality.
In an interview with , Kaye criticised Australia鈥檚 lengthy and expensive postal survey and said nothing has changed since New Zealand introduced marriage equality.
鈥淚 think that it鈥檚 about love and it鈥檚 about actually respecting people鈥檚 right, and in my view Australia just needs to get on with it,鈥� she said.
Asked if anything had changed since New Zealand introduced marriage equality in 2013, Kaye said, 鈥淭he reality is no. For all other [people] nothing will change. But for a group of New Zealanders or Australians their life will change because they will feel respected, they will have the ability to be recognised in terms of their love of their partner, and that鈥檚 the right thing to do.鈥�
Kaye said that even conservatives in New Zealand have relaxed their attitude to marriage equality after seeing its positive impact.
Prime Minister Bill English, a staunch Catholic, said last year that he would vote differently on marriage equality now, having previously opposed it.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that gay marriage is a threat to anyone else鈥檚 marriage,鈥� he said in December.
鈥淛ust seeing the impact it has had for couples and the fact that it doesn鈥檛 erode marriage. In some ways, it鈥檚 an affirmation of the concept.鈥�
Kaye said that life has continued as normal in New Zealand with marriage equality.
鈥淚 think the reality is, everyone said at the time that this would be very significant for a group of people, but everyone else鈥檚 lives would continue on,鈥� she said.
鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 the experience, that鈥檚 what happened.鈥�
The stories from NZ and the UK are spectacularly similar. Centre right government has been in power for a few years. The issue of same sex marriage arises. The centre-right government recognises that it’s time for this modern concept to be legislated in accordance with their philosophical support for liberal individual rights. It goes ahead. Everything goes well. The centre-right government gets re-elected at the next election with an increased majority, the opposition leader has to apologise for their dismal election result and resigns.
That is exactly how it went down firstly in NZ under John Key and then in the UK under Key’s close friend David “I support same sex marriage not despite being a conservative but because I am a conservative” Cameron.
Turnbull is cut from the same cloth politically as Key and Cameron. But here in Australia unlike NZ and the UK our conservatives are so pants-down stupid that they’re inflicting this awful process on us and themselves rather than get it right and cruise through the next election as per the UK and NZ.
As the NZ minister in the article might say, our conservatives are a bunch of duckheads.