Firstly, There will not be a referendum on gay marriage because Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard know that it will pass easily.

Secondly, Tony Abbott will not allow his party to have a conscience vote on gay marriage because he knows a high number of his MPs support gay marriage.

Thirdly, Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard do not support civil unions and would oppose a referendum on the issue to legalise civil unions.

Forth, Many of the same reasons that Tony and Julia give for opposing gay marriage are the same reasons that were used to keep interracial marriage banned.

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has rejected senior Liberal Malcolm Turnbull's calls for civil unions to be legislated in Parliament. Read here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-07/abbott-rejects-turnbull27s-call-for-civil-unions/4116304

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbot yesterday said they wouldn't back calls by independent Tony Windsor, the Greens and crossbenchers for a plebiscite on same sex marriage. Read here: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/julia-gillard-and-tony-abbott-reject-calls-for-gay-marriage-vote-before-election/story-e6frf00i-1226631838456

The following website provides lists of MPs who voted in favour of marriage equality, those who voted against, and those who didn’t vote. Read here: http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/how-your-mp-voted-on-marriage-equality/

>>There will not be a referendum on gay marriage because Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard know that it will pass easily.<<

There will not be a referendum on gay marriage because referenda are for constitutional matters. You can only have a plebiscite about gay marriage and as I know plebiscites are non-binding.

Cheers,

Tony

Jason84: Many of the same reasons that Tony and Julia give for opposing gay marriage are the same reasons that were used to keep inter-racial marriage banned.

Someone can correct me on this, but I don't think inter-racial marriages were ever banned in Australia. That was America.

The call for a referendum or Plebiscite, whatever, is set to be hijacked. The question of; Should gay marriage be legalized or do you believe in marriage equality. The Marriage Equality question is fraught with ambiguity. Does it mean, if you tick "yes", then you are in favour of Gay Marriage, or, if you tick "No" then you don't believe Men & Women are equal. It's an old Lawyers trick designed to confuse the issue.

A plebiscite with a direct question. "Should Australia have Gay Marriage." "Yes" or " No" would answer the Question once & for all.

The Gay community have been saying that they have the majority support in Australia for years. Yet, they are against this wording. They want the ambiguous wording. Why? Are they worried that they don't have the numbers after all? Is this why don't they support a clear cut answer to the Question?