Crikey together with OurSay collected some 120 questions and more than 6600 votes to decide the top three questions you wanted to ask independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. In a Crikey Live event our Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane put them to the political powerbrokers as part of a wide-ranging discussion on the economy, tax reform, health funding, gay marriage … and whether they’ll stick around for another term.
Download the session for your portable media player or listen below to the thought-provoking discussion on politics and power …
[podcast]https://uat.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Our-Say-Grill-the-Independents-Sep-12.mp3[/podcast]
It was refreshing to hear a couple of politicians who take their role seriously being interviewed by a journalist who wants to draw out their insights.
On “Gay Marriage”, Tony Windsor blew away the bulldust with some acute observations. The cry for change is on the basis of “equality” and perceived injustice. However there are remedies for the injustices apart from exploiting the Marriage Act. Superannuation, insurance, property and inheritance law can and should be improved. Legal union can already be achieved through a legal partnership. Many heterosexual couples do this before marriage as a “prenuptial agreement”. This is in every respect in line with the traditional “Wedding Contract”.
In every respect except the matter of children (offspring) ! Can homosexual “Legal Union” be equated with heterosexual procreative union ? Ultimately “marriage” is about procreating children. The State has a big interest in this. This is the future of the nation. It is a major investment item for any society, even if, as in minimal governments, the major players are only the mother and father. If we had “gay marriage” we would still have to have laws and regulation concerning children which would sideline participants in homosexual union.