Tony Abbott’s Coalition isn’t just against giving same-sex couples the right to marry, they’re also promising they’ll give heterosexual marriages a helping hand to the tune of a $200 voucher each.
On the Australian Christian Lobby’s Australia Votes guide to the election, the Liberal National Coalition was asked: “What will your party do to encourage marriage and resilience in couple relationships?”
Here’s the surprising response: “The Coalition will provide a $200 voucher to all couples when they register their intention to marry, which will be redeemable on an approved marriage education, counselling or parenting skills service.
“Couples can use this voucher before or after their wedding to choose the service that best suits their needs, be it one which assists in developing communication skills, conflict resolution, financial management, parenting skills, or for counselling services if problems arise in a marriage.”
“The Coalition will provide a $200 voucher to all couples when they register their intention to marry.”
While the Coalition’s refusal to support marriage equality leaves same-sex families with kids out in the cold, they add: “The Coalition, if elected, will place a greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention as a means of ameliorating the negative consequences of poverty, family dysfunction and social exclusion.”
They also reiterated their stance on marriage: “The Coalition policy supports the current definition of marriage contained in the Marriage Act.”
“Any change to the policy would be a matter for the Party Room in the future, as is the case with all policies,” their response added, concluding: “Tony Abbott supports the existing definition of marriage.”
The Australian Labor Party’s policy on the increasingly uncontroversial issue is also well known, and reiterated on the ACL’s website:
“The Rudd Labor Government believes that all people are entitled to respect, dignity and the opportunity to participate fully in society regardless of their sexuality.
“When the issue of same sex marriage has previously been considered by Parliament, Federal Labor has allowed each MP and Senator a conscience vote according to their own personal views.
“This reflects the fact that people of good will can hold different positions on this fundamental matter.”
Same Same has sought confirmation from the Liberal Party on their marriage voucher policy, and will update this story if/when we hear back.
UPDATE 9PM
There’s still no official word to us from a spokesperson from the Coalition on this policy, but a parliamentary journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald says she has contacted a source from Tony Abbott’s office to clarify.
While the policy as described to the Australian Christian Lobby notes that the $200 vouchers will be used for “pre-marital counselling”, the source told the Herald that same-sex couples would not be excluded from the initiative, and will be able to put the $200 voucher towards “relationship counselling.”
“Some people on Twitter have expressed outrage that while the Coalition doesn’t support same-sex marriage, it would shell out cash to straight couples to get hitched,” notes Jacqueline Maley in her live Federal Election blog today.
“Obviously same-sex couples won’t be getting pre-marital counselling, per se, because they can’t get legally married yet. But they can use the $200 towards relationship counselling.
“The scheme would be a capped one-year trial. I am seeking more detail for you but the main point is that same-sex couples are not excluded by it.
“But of course they are still excluded from marriage itself.”
Author: Matt Akersten
Publication: samesame
Date:27 August 2013