How Politics Can Affect the Law
On 14 September 2015 Australia was introduced to its 29th Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. While Mr Turnbull will not officially become Prime Minster until he is sworn in by the Governor General, the new Prime Minister’s attitude to much publicised areas of law is already being hotly debated.
Mr Turnbull is known for his views on two controversial issues, the first being his desire for an Emissions Trading Scheme in relation to the climate change debate, and the second being his support of the legalisation of gay marriage.
It has been reported that Mr Turnbull garnered votes from other members of the Liberal Party by promising to put his climate change agenda on the back burner and support previous Prime Minister Abbott’s view that a plebiscite should be held to determine if gay marriage is legalised in Australia.
A plebiscite is also vote of all the members of the Australian electorate on a question of public importance, however typically such a vote is not automatically made law until the government decides if it should be legislated. If this approach is adopted, all eligible members of the Australian population will need to attend a polling booth and vote for or against the issue just as they would in an election.
It remains to be seen what the Turnbull Government will do in relation to the question of legalisation of gay marriage. Further, the infamous “carbon tax” under the previous Labour Government means that any change to our climate change policy could spell political doom for the new Prime Minister.
Whether you support gay marriage or not, or are happy with our current climate change stance, what is more interesting is how the face of Australian politics can change in a blink of an eye and how our laws can be influenced by the desire of our political parties to retain power as opposed to the national interest.
Love them or hate them, our new Primate Minister means the potential for interesting changes to our law in relation to hotly debated social issues. Watch this space.
