Marriage equality in Hume?

OPINION: If the question whether to remove the legal barriers to same-sex marriage was put to a plebiscite, it would pass with almost three quarters of the vote. At least that is the suggestion of the most recent polls conducted on the subject. It is also the result of the referendum in Ireland, a country not renowned for its liberal social values … or so I thought.

Unfortunately, it will not be the people of Australia that will have a chance to vote on the matter but those who we have elected to represent us in the Commonwealth Parliament. In the case of Yass, he is Mr Angus Taylor MP, the member for Hume. We don’t know how Mr Taylor will vote if he is given a free vote on the matter by the Prime Minister but, when questioned, he said in a statement that:

“I appreciate this is a significant discussion for many Australians and the differing views are strongly held by many individuals. Most importantly, we need to respect all sides of this debate. In my electorate and right across Australia there are deeply held views on both sides of this discussion.
I have always believed that I should represent the views of my electorate on this issue. Being a representative is extremely important when it comes to matters of conscience. Whilst at this stage I have not conducted soundings across the electorate, I will do so if and when it is clear a conscience vote will proceed. I can assure you I will always seek the opinions of my electorate and reflect their views on this issue. “

So, Mr Taylor will be exercising his free vote on the basis of soundings that he will (somehow) take from the electorate. This is, of course, commendable and a much better outcome than that facing the voters in the electorate of Warringah. They probably support marriage equality by the same margin as the rest of Australia, but their local member, Tony Abbott, will ignore their views and just vote his prejudices.

I do hope that Mr Taylor will take real soundings from around the electorate, and not just from the Liberal Party members attending monthly branch meetings. If he does, his job will be made more difficult by the fact that the electorate of Hume is really broken into four very different constituencies.

The Yass valley represents a segment that was once traditionally farming and thus very conservative, but in recent years has grown significantly through immigration from Canberra. This part of the electorate is likely to be very supportive of marriage equality.

The western edge of the electorate, focused on the town of Young, remains a traditional farming community and thus likely to be socially conservative. In my little back-of-the-envelope assessment I will therefore mark them as likely being against marriage equality.

The North East edge is Sydney-facing and populated by people who would like to live closer to Sydney, but cannot afford to. Being made up of retirees and younger working families, I will tag this part of the electorate as supportive of marriage equality, but only just.

The final part of the electorate is the area around Goulburn. This area is, like Yass, being filled in by families who work in Canberra but cannot afford to buy homes closer to work. Surprisingly, Goulburn is also home to many artists and craft workers. The proportions are difficult to gauge, so I will mark them as too close to call.

So, there you have it. The electorate of Hume is a complex beast, with different regions likely having very different perspectives on the question of marriage equality.

For my part, I applaud Mr Taylor for consulting with the electorate on this important issue. Personally, I think that enshrining marriage equality in law is a matter of basic fairness that should be attended to as soon as possible.

*Views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily representative of Scoop Yass Valley.