今日吃瓜

With Brendan Nelson’s departure and Malcolm Turnbull taking the reins the Liberals are beginning to look like a force to be reckoned with again.

Turnbull is exactly what the party needs -鈥� a socially progressive liberal who can forge a clean break from the appalling social record of the Howard years. The appointment of female parliamentarians to two of the most important roles in the shadow cabinet will also help soften that image.

Many Liberal-leaning gays will already be considering a return to the fold but, before we get too excited, we should look to the previous Opposition leader for reasons to take a wait and see approach.

While an MP and minister, Nelson was generally forthright about his personal views on gay issues. But once installed as leader, largely on the back of the Liberals’ Right faction and with a precarious majority in the party room, Nelson ended up trying so hard to be all things to all people that he eventually became nothing to anyone.

Now Turnbull finds himself in a similar position, with another precarious majority and debts that need repaying to right-wing defectors from Nelson’s camp. Hopefully, that no strong alternative from within the party exists should give him room to be bold -鈥� and bold he should be.

That being said, the Liberals under Turnbull are unlikely to dump the requirement that each part of the reform package be reviewed by a Senate committee. Neither have we seen the end of mind-numbing pedantry over relationship terminology or Coalition senators tabling religiously worded petitions on behalf of a handful of homophobic constituents. We may, however, see the resurrection of Turnbull’s call for the laws to be backdated when passed.

Some shadow cabinet appointments do raise alarm bells though, with Science going to Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz whose resume includes links to almost every Christian fundamentalist group in the country, while Sophie Mirabella (nee Panopoulos), who believes granting de facto status to same-sex couples would legalise polygamy, has been given the Childcare, Women and Youth portfolios.

At the other end of the spectrum, George Brandis remains in his role as shadow attorney-general, but none of the more outspoken gay rights advocates from the Howard years have been advanced, though quieter achievers have made some ground.

Progressive Liberal Senator Marise Payne has collected an assortment of Parliamentary Secretary roles, while Education goes to Christopher Pyne who opposed the Howard Government’s 2004 marriage ban while still opposing gay marriage itself. Incidentally, Pyne was the subject of a false gay smear originating from within his own party last year.