Vic ALP urges change on Malaysia, marriage

8 Oct 2011, 6:12 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The Victorian ALP has condemned Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Malaysia solution and her opposition to gay marriage.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been undermined by the ALP in her home state, with the Victorian party condemning her Malaysia solution and opposition to gay marriage.

Delegates at the party's state conference voted in favour of resolutions urging federal Labor to change the law to support same-sex marriage and scrap offshore processing and mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

The result sets the scene for a showdown at the December ALP national conference in Sydney. Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia national secretary Michele O'Neil told federal Labor to "get over" its opposition to gay marriage.

"I reckon if my 88-year-old dad can understand this and ... the great bulk of the Australian community understands this, why can't we understand it in the Labor Party?

"Let's get over it.

"It's a debate about choice, it's a debate about fairness, it's a debate about rights."

Conservative Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association head Joe De Bruyn opposed the resolution, saying he would reserve his arguments for the national conference.

Rainbow Labor co-convenor Sarah Cole, who moved the resolution, said Labor was a progressive party and must support marriage equality.

She said the Marriage Act sent a message to gay and lesbian young people coming to terms with their sexuality that they were not equal members of society.

"That the happily-ever-after stories that they have grown up assuming will be part of the framework of their lives are not open to them any more," she said.

Federal Labor frontbencher and head of the party's Victorian Right faction, Bill Shorten, refused to discuss his views and denied suggestions the state conference vote undermined Ms Gillard.

He has previously expressed his personal support for same-sex marriage but indicated he was not prepared to break ranks with Labor policy on the issue.

Ms O'Neil said it was shameful the federal government's asylum seeker policies did not reflect the party's national platform.

"We ... have leaders in our own party and our own government who seem unable to say the word asylum seekers," she said.

"Why have we lost the capacity as a party, and why have our leaders lost the capacity to speak about those who are vulnerable being persecuted and arriving on our shores looking for our humane support?"

She urged the federal government to use the High Court's ruling that the Malaysia solution was invalid as an opportunity to change its asylum seeker policies.

Labor right figure Garth Head spoke in opposition to the resolution, and called for Australia to lift its refugee intake rather than encourage people to board leaky boats.

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