As the more astute among us realise, forcing gay marriage onto a society that actually hotly opposes the idea, is about something else entirely.
Only a fool and the uninitiated believe otherwise.
forcing this unwanted dictate onto the electorate will severly erode free speech and citizens rights further, as it has in Canada.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14899/

I really can't understand all this name calling,
labelling, and personal insults, simply because
of an issue that according to recent statistics and
recent surveys most Australians approve of.
In any case one way to perhaps settle this matter
once and for all is by having a Referendum and
letting the country decide on the matter.
Politicians should also be allowed to have a
conscience vote on the topic.

I believe that it was John Howard who changed the
wording of the Marriage Act in this country.

It was the democratically elected federal Parliament that confirmed the meaning and intent of the Marriage Act.

Why should the federal Parliament have to again confirm the meaning of the Act?

It is just the federal Opposition wasting Parliamentary time (House of Representatives) in the same way that the headline-hunting Greens wasted Senate time.

The previous Labor leader was right,

<Former Labor leader Mark Latham slams Labor over gay marriage

FORMER Labor leader Mark Latham has slammed his party’s “obsession” with gay marriage saying it should focus on the nation’s “Struggle Streets” instead.

He told 3AW radio Bill Shorten’s private members bill to push for changes to the marriage act to allow same-sex couples to tie the knot, to be introduced into parliament on Monday, was nothing more than a symbolic gesture.

He said the biggest social issue facing Austalia was unemployment, drug use and homelessness in suburbs such as Mt Druitt which was the focus of the SBS documentary, Struggle Street.

“If you are interested in equality and social justice in Australia then what was the really big event in the month of May,” he said. “We had the Struggle Street documentary which revealed that in the nation’s public housing estate, most notably in Mt Druit people live in conditions that you wouldn’t wish upon your dogs. Absolute chaos, despair and hopelessness in their lives.

“And surely, you would have expected a serious national response from the party of social justice?

“We didn’t hear anything.

“They’re obsessed, instead, by gay marriage.”

Mr Latham said legalising same-sex marriage would not “improve” anyone’s standard of living, nor would it improve their capacity to “function in society”.>
http://tinyurl.com/p6kts6c

Foxy, the surveys are biased and unreliable, in Ireland before the vote pollsters claimed that over 70% of voters surveyed supported same sex marriage, in the end only around 35% voted for it.
We don't want any change to the marriage act because there's no compelling reason to do so, this is not an issue of social justice it's wholly political and only serves the interests of MP's and Senators.
What can be achieved by going against the will of the people and using minority groups as pawns in political games? Until now nobody really had a reason to retaliate against Gay rights advocates because they didn't actually do anything, now that they've allied themselves with the hated mainstream political operators they're part of the power structure and fair game. If I was an anti government activist I tell you how I'd proceed, in my narrative I'd describe all same sex marriages as purely political acts and encourage militants to disrupt them and to do everything they could to shut down any business which did business with same sex couples. Same sex marriage is going to be a chink in the armour of the coalition if parliament passes the bill, in coming years as conservative and religious migrant groups begin to assert themselves repeal of the changes to the marriage act would become a wedge issue and a viable tactic for activists. Imagine if in 2016 or 2019 a handful of seats go to Islamists or conservative Christians and one of the majors needs coalition partners? What then?
We know the Lib/Lab duopoly will do anything to stay in power, there is no principle or policy which is not negotiable, we could easily end up with an annulment of all same sex marriages and Russian style bans on "homosexual propaganda".
The bourgeois posters are under the impression that Australia is a "progressive" society, it isn't, the majority of us are dumb, conservative, angry and intolerant and the voice of the discontented masses is growing louder every day.

I'm intrigued, Jay, how do you think it serves the interest of politicians especially to foster discussion of this topic?

You might like to bear in mind that the author of this piece is not a politician, he's a free-lance bigot, although no doubt well-supported by some of the nuttier fruit-cakes within the Darling Downs evangelicals, as can be seen in some of this forum's newer members..

//It was the democratically elected federal Parliament that confirmed the meaning and intent of the Marriage Act.

Why should the federal Parliament have to again confirm the meaning of the Act?//

Because they are beholden to the will of the voters, and if they think they can escape the wrath of the voters by hiding behind Parliament then they just don't understand the Westminster system of democracy.