Section 51 of the Constitution says, “The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to…. (xxi) marriage.”

Section 109 says, “When a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid.”

The federal parliament has legislated on marriage. The states cannot pass laws that conflict with the federal laws on marriage. They can legislate for same-sex unions, but they cannot pretend that they are marriage

There is also a good argument that the federal parliament’s power to legislate on marriage does not include the power to invent same-sex marriage. The powers under Section 51 are specific things. They are not words that can mean anything parliament decides they mean; e.g., the power over “the custody and guardianship of infants” cannot be re-interpreted to define 50-year olds as “infants”, and the power over “immigration and emigration” cannot be re-interpreted to define movement from one state to another as “immigration” or “emigration”. If the powers could be redefined, Australia would not be a federation as the federal parliament could redefine any power to mean anything at all and thus deprive the sates of their constitutional position. Marriage at the time the Constitution was adopted was the union of one man and one woman. It has been that ever since the word entered the English language. That is what the federal parliament has power over. If it can redefine marriage to mean the union of one man and another man or one woman and another woman, then it can redefine marriage to mean any relationship at all. The High Court may of course find a way around this.

In any case, marriage equality was not defeated. A bill for same-sex marriage was. Calling it marriage equality is just PR trickery.

...Following his defeat in Tasmania, maybe Rodney Croome should devote his efforts towards a worthwhile cause such as homelessness and poverty in Australia, and why it is that at any given moment in Queensland alone, eight thousand people are living in the dark with no power, unable to pay escalating power bills, unable to meet rent and mortgage payments, unable to find sufficient work to maintain a respectable living standard: Many of this group , one could assume, are also homosexual, and in need of more relevant help from the political processes in Australia than marriage opportunities.

...Rodney Croomes and his supporters, should now pack up their tent and stop wasting the valuable time of Politicians and the broader community, who have to date given this subject way more attention than it deserves.

Wow, Tasmania finally got something right.

Could this mean they will get rid of the ratbag greens at the next election?

Could sanity finally prevail, in the isle of apples? One can hope.

A perfect example of how a group can convince itself and then try to convince everyone else that their side of an argument is an obvious no-brainer with majority support.

The issue that "more than 60%" of the population wanted has been lost in two votes now. When Julia and Rudd voted against it for their own pragmatic reasons suddenly the cries of anachronistic conservatives undermining 'progressive' social change sounded a little hollow.Providing a 'conscience vote' made Rudd and Gillard look like complete hypocrites.

The gay marriage movement has done itself a great disservice by pushing its barrow too hard too soon.

Really, the bottom line is that gay marriage is not deemed acceptable by a majority of Australians and the pollies can tell which way the wind is blowing.

A very well written article Mr. Croome. I am sorry the Tasmanian Parliament couldn't quite get the bill over the line, but it was certainly close.

I am disgusted by some of the views expressed above, especially insinuating you should do something more worthwhile than the gay marriage debate.

I read about your many community awards, such as :

"...short listed, along with 11 other Australians, for Australian of the Year in 1994;
the inaugural recipient of the Tasmania Day Community Service Award 2000;
awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal in 2003; and
made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003".

Congratulations on being a well thought of citizen.

I wonder if the posters above knew all this before they stuck their boots in?

I sincerely hope that justice and equal rights will prevail very soon and that Gay couples will be able to marry.
When they do, all the detractors will note that the sky will not fall in...

Surely DD you should be directing your criticism to Campbell Newman, as he does not appear to have noticed the deprivation of Queensland residents as you have; as he cuts services to those who most need them.
There again GLBTI people are a soft target, to help cloud this amiss.