TONY Abbott’s decision to wait until the Parliament had shut down at the end of last year before making it clear that he would block a conscience vote on any gay marriage bill could cost him in the long run.
It can be a mistake to decide how to vote on something you haven’t even seen. Alexander Downer made this mistake as Liberal leader when he took the shadow cabinet to that famous hotbed of Liberalism otherwise known as Burnie in Tasmania. In their collective wisdom, they decided the party should vote against whatever bill then attorney-general Michael Lavarch produced to override Tasmania’s anti-gay laws.