Much has been made of the labor requirement for members to vote according to the party decisions.
Also much has been made that the Liberals do allow members to vote according to their own views.
It would appear both of these views are not correct given that in the case of Labor,members are forewarning they wont support changes to the superannuation tax regime.
Also in the case of the Liberals that are supposedly free to vote as they will, its clear that the gay marriage issue demonstrates that is a load of bollocks and that Liberal members are pressured to vote according to the party leadership line. Abbott wont even allow a conscience vote on the issue. Reportedly, Abbotts children support gay marriage so they are at odds with their fathers viewpoint. A strange situation where Abbott has a gay sister but cant bring himself to accept what the majority of Australians are willing to do and accept gay marriage.
Abbott has a responsibility to cede to the wishes of the Australian public and not impose his own fundamentalist religious dogma on the Australian people.
