Letters to the editor

They have been calling long and loud, wanting a free vote (in the parliament) on the issue.

Assuming all politicians are correctly enrolled with the electoral commission (and who knows if that is correct these days), they will all now have a free vote. 

So now they have a free vote, why do they not want it? Could it be that they will not be able to coerce, bully, or intimidate all those who will be voting as would have happened in parliament?

I had been a union member in my working life and know how union organisers like Bill like to control voting through open ballots.

Perhaps that is also why he does not want the plebiscite. It will be a secret ballot and union organisers hate that idea. 

It looks like the conservatives in the Liberal Party are now getting socialist, but only if it means appearing to side with us punters who are paying too much for our electricity.

Who would have guessed that the Liberal Party would consider nationalising AGL’s aging Liddell power station, especially after AGL bought the privatised station for zero dollars?

The market forces that the Libertarians normally champion only seem to be working for the owners of the capital. Surprise, surprise! Us poor suckers at the wrong end of the wires have only had grief since the energy sector was privatised in the rush to find short term capital to “balance the books”.

This letter is not advocating a point of view on marriage equality. It is to point out the unthinking and cruel point of view put forward by Jay Nauss.

He supports what he says is the traditional view of marriage as being, “man/woman – with children”. The fact is that many marriages do not fit this formula. Many couples cannot have children. Many people marry later in life and do not have children.

We either deem these marriages to be invalid or we reject Jay Nauss’ point of view.

Those of us who thought, like the old song, that “love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” have had a lot of confusing information thrown at us recently about same-sex couples and the way their non-marriages give them all the same rights as married people.

My wife and I were surprised, therefore, to attend the Roads and Maritime Service Centre last week to change our car registration, where we were asked to produce our marriage certificate.

This led me to wonder what other equal rights might not be there, particularly when my daughter, currently unable to marry her long-time partner, gets to our age.

Will she be asked for a marriage certificate if her not legally recognised wife is in hospital, or worse?

Australia Post apparently charges hundreds of dollars for a name change, but not if you can provide a – you guessed it – marriage certificate.

Those who oppose same sex marriage are resting their hopes on the oldies like me. But if you think we are going to support discrimination against our own kids and grandkids, you are about to be very disappointed.

My daughter doesn’t need my permission to get married. But she needs yours. Please join me in voting yes.