Quote of the Week #3

By Sandra Buol - Editor

“Am so sorry. Guess that’s why I have few friends who are politicians. He seemed very open and excited about Mardi Gras and LGBT community.”

Cher on Twitter, 4/3/18

“He” – that would be Malcom Turnbull. After he posted a selfie of himself, his wife, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Cher on Twitter, saying to be “thrilled at the 40th Mardi Gras & first since Australia achieved marriage equality”, the community took it upon itself to remind not only Turnbull, but also Cher that it certainly wasn’t the current government that gave marriage equality to everyone – though Turnbull clearly believes so.
 
But remember how he could just have legislated marriage equality without spending $80.5 million and enabling Lyle Shelton and his fellow god-fearing comrades to start a hateful “No” campaign filled with lies just by simply doing his job and letting Members of Parliament do their job?
 
The plebiscite-turned-postal-survey was extremely flawed from the beginning. While I, as a Swiss citizen and used to be a part of a direct democracy, get to vote what feels like a thousand times per year about issues big and small (mostly small), Australians vote for their MPs so they don’t have to bother with these exact issues big and small. To just simply trust politicians to act in their voters’ wishes and not for their personal gain seems a bit weird to me. But that’s what a representative democracy is all about.
 
So, no Turnbull. You don’t get to claim that one for yourself. And besides a few Liberals who apparently live in a bubble, nobody believes you anyway. A selfie doesn’t change that.