Have you “voted?”

In a break from the blogs about Uni with gratuitous references for cricket and footy, this one is to tackle what I believe is the biggest political issue of 2017 or indeed the term of this parliament.

I “voted” today. I say “voted” because the postal survey is to find out what the country thinks about same sex marriage. You vote in an election which is binding mandate, you respond to a survey.

Point of order number one. The language is wrong.

I’m not going to divulge how I responded. I believe that every Australian who is asked to respond to this survey has the right to have his/her opinion recorded in private. A “vote” is a sacred right of all Australians and should not be flouted publicly.
Further to this idea of a secret ballot comes to the notion of this survey being divisive.

No matter how you respond, be it yes or no, you will alienate people within your family, peer group, employer and even your colleagues.
You may have been brought up in a conservative family, conservative voting, bible believing folk who you treasure due the way you were raised. “Voting” yes would put you at odds with them. It would make them question if they raised you right, with the principles of teachings they hoped to.

You may have friends or family in same sex partnerships. People who have been with a partner longer than your first marriage lasted who are screaming out for the chance to share the same fundamental rights as heterosexual people. By voting no, could you look them in the eye and say that their partnership is less valid than yours?

And what does my transgender friend think?

Point of order number two. You are going to be right and wrong in the eyes of people you love at the same time.

I must protest at the campaigning that is going on around the survey.

It is a truly American thing to have celebrities and companies endorse a certain political party, candidate or cause.
How has this crept into the Australian ethos?

National sporting bodies like Cricket Australia, the Australian Rugby Union, the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League have all publicly endorsed the “yes” campaign, for whatever gain they have dreamt up.
This has caused a few eyebrows to be raised, the main consternation was when the ARU said it supports same sex marriage, but it’s best, most highly paid and highest profile player, Israel Folau came out and said in a tweet he did not support same sex marriage based on his religious beliefs.
This put Folau at odds with his employer and caused great backlash from other high profile athletes and Australian celebrities.
And what good came of it?
None.

Folau was ostracized for his opinion which he was perfectly entitled to and those who responded to his thoughts bit back hard at his right to free speech.

Point of order three. There were no winners.

If I may make a final point.

It should not have come to this.
If you look back at recent Australian history, each Prime Minister (let’s start with Bob Hawke) has had one or two big ticket items they can hang their hat on. They might not have been popular items but they achieved a mandate at the polls and made changes in the interest of the nation.

Even if they might have been misguided in some cases, they did what they set out to achieve.
Hawke floated the Australian dollar.
Paul Keating led us through on the biggest recession we have seen.
John Howard brought in the GST and introduced us to gun control.
Kevin Rudd said “sorry”.
Julia Gillard was the first popularly elected female Prime Minister, and,
Tony Abbott stopped the boats.

Malcolm Turnbull had a chance in the lead up to the last Federal election by giving the parliament a conscience vote on same sex marriage. He opted not to and now governs with smallest majority in the 116 years of federation.

Vote how you will, your sovereign right is your business.

I would love to hear what you think about this blog. I don’t care which way you vote, as long as you do and can reconcile your decision in your own mind, because, that is all that matters. The politicians didn’t get a conscience “vote” but you do.