Australian Marriage Equality national convener Alex Greenwich says no to civil unions
Marriage Equality advocates have hit back at Malcolm Turnbull for suggesting that Civil Unions were a substitute for marriage equality in a recent speech.
In a speech on the 6th of July at the Southern Cross University on the Gold Coast, Mr Turnbull said:
"While I am very doubtful the numbers are there to legislate for gay marriage in the Federal Parliament I think they are certainly there to legislate for civil unions... I think it would be a great pity if marriage is not able to be passed in the parliament and that opportunity to pass civil unions should be taken up."
Referencing Mr Turnbull's own survey, Australian Marriage Equality National Convener Alex Greenwich said "Wherever civil unions have been enacted they entrench discrimination rather than remove it."
"Mr Turnbull should know better than to suggest civil unions as a way forward, especially given that his own electorate survey overwhelmingly rejected civil unions and endorsed marriage equality"
"Mr Turnbull's own polling proves Australians aspire to a nation that provides equality for loving and committed couples, not one that settles on convenient half measures for politicians"
Mr Greenwich also rejected Mr Turnbull's pessimistic prediction about the fate of the issue.
"Right up until the Labor Party changed their policy to favour marriage equally leading figures in the ALP said it would not happen."
"Politicians in both major parties have consistently under-estimated how quickly the ground shifts on this issue."
Mr Turnbull also said in his Gold Coast speach: "We should not miss the opportunity to legislate for civil unions for same sex couples in this parliament."
"I recognise that will be seen by many as not good enough. But it is better than nothing and as I said in the House last week on another issue, it is a great mistake to allow your conception of the perfect to be the enemy of the good."