Tony Abbott, Labor, Greens Offer No Love for Civil Union Bill
Chief opposition whip Warren Entsch would like to try out his proposed civil partnership bill, which he believes will extend legal recognition to all Australian unions, irrespective of the gender and sexual orientation.
In an interview with ABC on Thursday, Mr Entsch said his civil union legislation has been long drafted and is ready to hit the Parliament floor once Opposition Leader Tony Abbott warrants its introduction by the Liberals.
He has vowed to discuss the matter with Mr Abbott, convinced that "a lot of colleagues are very particularly keen in having a look at this."
However, revising the present form of Australia's Marriage Act was too far from the legislative agenda of the Liberal leader, who has also declared earlier that the Coalition will not support any gay marriage bills that will be docked in Parliament.
That has been demonstrated on Wednesday when MPs rejected the same-sex marriage bill authored by Labor MP Stephen Jones.
The same goes with the civil union idea of Mr Entsch, Mr Abbott said, adding that it's best for his colleague to leave his proposed bill where it is the moment.
"We really should let the dust settle on these parliamentary votes before we rush off and do something else," the Opposition leader was reported by Fairfax as saying on Thursday.
To begin with, it was pointless for the federal parliament to take on matters that need tackling on state parliament levels, plus he has no intentions at all to backtrack on the positions that the Coalition has outlined during the 2010 federal election, Mr Abbott said.
He assured, however, that his opposition on gay marriage would never translate into the extreme views of South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi, who attached the legalisation of gay marriage to the legalisation of bestiality.
What the Liberal senator had uttered was unacceptable, Mr Abbott said, adding "the fact that Cory is no longer a member of the shadow frontbench demonstrates that he did the wrong thing in every sense."
He also disclosed that his current sentiment on the gay marriage debate is 'conflicted', largely due to his personal experience on the issue, noting that his sister, Christine Forster, is a lesbian.
"I've had some lively, and at times heartfelt, discussions with my sister Chris on this subject," the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Mr Abbott as saying on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Mr Entsch's bill appears to be on its way down without even taking off, with Labor and the Greens shooting down the proposal this early.
For Labor Senator Doug Cameron, the needs of Australia's gay community would be hardly met in a civil union legislation.
Greens MP Adam Bandt is under the impression that the Liberal idea will only setback what has been achieved by proponents of equal rights, and in this case for gay marriage campaigners and advocates.
"I would argue that it entrenches discrimination against gay people because it's saying we will entrench the discrimination against gay people because you cannot marry," Greens leader Christine Milne told AAP.