Australians exercise their democratic rights this weekend. With so many issues that divide the parties (like, do we make refugees rot forever on a tropical island with no hope, or do we make them rot on a tropical island with a faint and indeterminant hope) one thing I think we can all agree on is the need to have a strong majority government. Democracies that are forced to negotiate, consult and compromise, to legislate for the entire country and not just those that voted for them, are weakened by this, the very act of democracy. I want strong leadership. Like what they’ve got in Pyongyang and Beijing.
So you vote for your side, I’ll vote for mine, and we’ll each get the majority we deserve. We’ll get strong and unified government.
The kind of strong and unified government that tackles the most pressing social issues of our time by proposing a plebiscite. Which they will in turn take back to their deeply divided party room. Which has already voted against gender neutral marriages. And then give them a vote on whether to enact the will of the people or not. Where, according to former leader, cyclists, monarchist, and all round fuckstick, Tony Abbott, he expects the party will follow the results of the plebiscite.
Core values of a strong democracy like ours include equality of opportunity for everyone. Restricting the right to marry to that portion of the population who wants to couple in a reproductive manner is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic. It goes to the core of the values that make our society. That’s why I’m glad that we have such strong leadership to vote for on Saturday.
