Hatch reporter Tom Livingstone asked Tanya Plibersek about the Battle for Bennelong and what’s next for marriage equality.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition was a key supporter of the YES Australia campaign.
Now Tanya Plibersek is throwing her support behind Labor’s candidate to replace citizenship casualty, John Alexander.
Ms Plibersek spoke to Hatch during Wednesday’s SSM rally in Sydney.
What are your thoughts on Kristina Keneally running for a seat in Bennelong?
I’m delighted she’s giving John Alexander a run for his money. It’s a very difficult seat for Labor to win but having a high profile candidate like Kristina gives us our best shot.
How confident were you that the SSM result would be yes?
I really do think Australians are ready for this. Australians are way ahead of politicians on the issue.
With other countries being so far ahead on this theme, do you think we are still living in the dark ages?
I think the time for change has well and truly come that’s for sure.
[If the result was a No] what would have happened next?
If it [was] a no, Labor [would be] committed to introducing marriage equality in the first 100 days of a Shorten Government, so the next stage… would be to get behind a Shorten Government.
With a Yes, how soon will we see equal rights for people in the LGBTQI community?
It actually depends on whether Malcolm Turnbull grows a spine, because there is a bill that will be introduced into Senate today [Wednesday]. It already has cross-party support and the leadership of the Liberal Party should not tolerate any more delays from the opponents of Marriage Equality, trying to introduce a bill of their own, or a hundred amendments to the existing bill. We’ve got a bill that’s gone through a Senate process, every party has signed onto it, of course it’s a compromise, and these things always are. But it is the only bill that has a chance of passing before Christmas. People should get on board, get behind the bill and we can see marriage equality passed by Christmas. – Tom Livingstone