Posted on 10/09/2013 5:58:25 PM PDT by massmike
The threat of same-sex "marriage" being forced on society by radical politicians has come back to Australia with a critical vote coming up this month.
This is in addition to the upcoming "gay marriage" vote in Hawaii on Oct 28 and the Illinois Legislature re-convening for a vote on Oct. 22.
As we reported over a year ago in September, 2012 the Australian National Parliament voted overwhelmingly to defeat the "gay marriage" bills in both houses despite months of heavy lobbying by the homosexual movement, including parades, speeches, and political pressure.
But in late August it was revealed that the legislature in Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) intends to vote on "gay marriage" bill on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The Australian Capital Territory is similar to Washington DC in the US.
Like the Australian states, the Austrian Capital Territory is technically under the laws of the National Parliament. But there is a fear that if the ACT passed its "gay marriage" bill, a High Court case to challenge the legality of it could go terribly awry (as courts have done in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Iowa, and with DOMA and Prop 8 in the US Supreme Court). The ACT's special status could also affect the court proceedings. Already, there are reports of other Australian states preparing to schedule votes if the ACT putsch is successful.
Top officials in Canberra have told the press that they expect "gay marriage" to be legal in ACT by the end of the year - that it will win in the ACT Legislative Assembly and that it will be OK'd by the country's High Court or else voted in by the National Parliament.
ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell has gone even further. On Sept. 19 he held a press conference inviting same-sex couples from other Australian states and even from overseas to get "married" in Canberra as soon as the new law passes.
Abbott needs to intervene somehow.
start encouraging everyone to google-image ‘Folsom street fair’ with their adult filter off
that’s what they’re aiming for
Ignoring the typo (Austrian), Australia's constitution makes states responsible for some areas, and the federal government responsible for others - and the National Parliament has no real power to intervene in areas reserved to the states (there are a few exceptions to this involving areas where Australia has signed treaties).
Marriage is an area which is generally considered Federal, so in this case, the National Parliament does have the power but the ACT government thinks it has found a constitutional loophole - whether it has or not would be up to the High Court of Australia to decide.
However, because the ACT is not a state but is a territory, the federal government does have more power to intervene (territories have a more limited right to self government than the states do), and could try to overturn a law - but not on constitutional grounds - will they intervene? It depends... intervention specifically based on the right to intervene in territory matters could backfire, because it could be viewed as acknowledging this area is an area, the six states do have the power to legislate on, even if the two territories don't. It might be better to leave the matter in the hands of the High Court - if the government is confident of its constitutional position.
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