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IN PHOTO: Protesters hold a placard depicting Greens party leader Bob Brown and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a rally against a carbon tax in central Sydney July 1, 2011. Australia's government, fighting a slump in popularity over plans to price carbon, said on Thursday it was determined to start emissions trading as soon as possible after reports it had agreed on a 2015 deadline to switch from a carbon tax. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

The Australian Greens has shown keen interest aimed at acquiring support from other major parties like the Labor and Liberal regarding its new bill on same-sex marriage. Along with the Greens, although Labor and Liberal democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm have introduced bills on legalising the same, yet none has been debated over. However, party members remained divided in their opinion.

According to Victorian senator Janet Rice, The Greens was supposed to debate the introduced bill last night but discontinued it in the hope of creating a cross party bill. She expressed having faith on such a bill as it was best way to achieve equality in the society and stated that, "The sooner we legislate for marriage equality, the better."

According to the ABC, the Greens would debate over the bill by 7th of November and is likely to stick to the deadline even if they fail to reach a proper consensus. However, the Coalition remained against such initiative.

Following the Irish referendum that represented marriage equality, the Greens and many other members of the Parliament pushed for changing the Australian Marriage act. Janet Rice, of the Greens, believed that it was “an incredible turning point for our collective humanity” but also “a stark reminder of how far behind we are” in Australia.

A representative of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten reported that Labor Party would extend its support to the cross party bill rather than to the legislation proposed by the Greens. On Thursday, Coalition senator Barry O'Sullivan also told the Senate that he has asked all his colleagues to resist such actions keeping in mind wider interests of the society. However, one of the Western Australian Senators proposed that any form of discrimination arising out of social construct should not be tolerated.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that decision regarding this matter ought to be taken by the all members of the Parliament. However, due to internal conflicts they all have failed to secure a free vote.

Contact the writer on :- priya.shayani@gmail.com

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