Letter to the Sydney Star Observer

Today I wrote the following letter to the Sydney Star Observer in response to a number of letters in the current edition praising Malcolm Turnbull, the current federal Liberal MP for Wentworth.

Dear Editor,

In the upcoming federal election, one issue affecting GLBTI people is the non-equality of same-sex relationships with heterosexual relationships in federal law. The current member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, was unable to persuade Federal Cabinet to adopt the HREOC recommendations notwithstanding his (professed) personal support for them.

I havn’t met Malcolm and don’t know him personally. He may be a great guy – he says he supports socially liberal policies, which is good for the GLBTI community and a policy position I support. However, when we vote in the federal election, we are effectively choosing a federal government. It doesn’t matter if the local member is excellent if the government they are part of isn’t.

We have a choice this federal election between electing a Coalition government or a Labor government. If Malcolm is re-elected, we are saying we want to re-elect the Coalition government. Do readers want this?

If you want to re-elect the Coalition, vote for Malcolm Turnbull. If you want to elect a Labor government (which has said that it will implement the HREOC recommendations), vote for George Newhouse, the ALP candidate.

The most important job an MP does is vote for or against a government in parliament. Everything else is secondary. By all means have socially liberal politicians in the Coalition – I’m in favour of that. But while voting for Malcolm may do this, a vote for Malcolm is a vote to re-elect the Coalition government. Do readers want that?

Sincerely,

Sacha Blumen