Phanto " There is no pain in not having a marriage licence."
Really? Tell that to the many single mothers and couples 'living in sin' who were vilified over the years by the holier than thou 'morally superior' married community.

Can't you see why the gay community want to be able to be legally married now?
It is still a stigma in many communities to be living together in a defacto relationship.
Just check with Josephus and Runner.

Dear phanto,

Yes, I called for both. That is - either a conscience vote in
Parliament or a Referendum. I thought a
Referendum alongside an election was a more
equitable (cheaper) option and it would allow
people to have an input as well. However I've since found
out the costs involved and of course ideally the best
option seems to be allowing a conscience vote in
Parliament. It's up to Mr Abbott.

Yes Foxy, they do need a conscience vote, but I have a feeling Abbott knows he would be in the minority in allowing such a vote.
So he will try a referendum, and hang the expense!

The budget emergency must be over, so maybe he could increase the aged pension to a liveable level?

Labor was in government from 2007 to 2013. Why is Labor suddenly obsessed with gay marriage?

Could it have anything to do with L'il Willie Shorten ('Whatever She Says') not having any policies?

Not unexpected with all of the old war horses from the failed Gillard government in the Labor opposition 'front bench'. -Including Shorten himself of course.

WmTrevor "I would have thought as a libertarian you would be happy with any legal change which further reduces restrictions on people's freedom to choose to have their preferred relationship registered by government authorities"

I am a classical liberal.
Libertarians are frequently as clueless as anarchists.

Registration of relationships is not "freedom".
That's "rights" not liberty.

I personally distrust the official enshrining of "rights" as we can see with this issue, the "rights" of one party (gay couples) can negate the liberty of another (religious/naturalist clerks or cake bakers).

I don't really see why anyone must have the "right" to officially register any relationship.
Those are personal "contracts" that could be privately negotiated.

And if such registration exists, it should be extended to ALL relationships between consenting adults, including bigamous and incestous ones.
The "reform" is half-hearted and hypocritical.

The Left proclaim the primacy of law/government only when it suits them.
When it doesn't, it's stick it to the Man, down with the Fascist System!

Suseonline, if the stigma of being unmarried has not disappeared for straight couples, why would it vanish for gays?

The same two-tier status will now apply to gay relationships too.

The married ones are deemed legit and respectable and the cohabitors are just irresponsible immature "playmates".

Now queer folk can look forward to the "Don't you love me that much" speech. Yippee!

//At the moment they do not see that as their job nor do many voters.//

It's not Parliament's job to amend legislation? Well, I have been sorely misinformed.

//Why do you think they should amend the marriage act?//

Because it's the right thing to do.

//The same-sex couple however seemed intent on causing pain for her and using the full weight of the law to make sure she felt that pain//

U.S. District Judge David Bunning is not a same-sex couple, phanto. That would be physically impossible. You seem to be confusing this case with other recent cases reported in the media where same-sex couples have brought civil suits against cake decorators. Davis wasn't just refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, she wasn't issuing them to anyone, and there were equal numbers of same-sex and opposite-sex couples making the complaint against her. The Judge found in their favour, quite reasonably I thought, because she was refusing to do her job. The one she's been getting paid to do even though she refuses to do it. Must be good being a civil servant in Kentucky. If I conscientiously objected to doing my job I'd be sacked on the spot.