I write to you to ask that you do all that is in your power as a parliamentarian, both within the confines of our party and outside of it, to achieve marriage equality in this country as soon as possible.
The present conventional wisdom seems to be that this is merely a matter of time and in the media much fuss is now being made over whether 'Australia is ready' just yet. I hope you will agree that the readiness or otherwise of an ever-dwindling minority of the electorate is entirely besides the point. Our parliamentarians are elected to lead us, and not to follow. As Edmund Burke once said: 'Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.'
Discrimination against LGBTI people within our marriage law may not be the gravest injustice in our society. It is, however, one of very few which can be fixed with a single line of amending legislation and not a cent from the Treasury's coffers. It is an overdue reform, and the moral imperative on the Labor Government to act now should not be abdicated in the name of increasingly dubious arguments of political expediency.
Yours sincerely,
David Rowe
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