Watch it live here right now.
The Labour Party is debating on whether to adopt marriage equality as a binding policy or to to allow the delegates to make an individual "conscience vote" on the issue. If adopted as a binding policy, all Labour votes would go as a single bloc to support marriage equality in the national Parliament. Perhaps some of our Australian readers can offer some clarity on how this may play out.
UPDATE: Mixed results. The conference voted make marriage equality an official platform plank for the Labor Party. But it also narrowly voted to allow dissenting delegates to vote against marriage equality in the national Parliament, basically dooming the issue in the short term, as far as I can figure out.
UPDATE II: Sydney's gay paper weighs in.Marriage Equality activists have hailed today’s decision by the ALP to support same-sex marriage, with Australian Marriage Equality National Convener, Alex Greenwich, saying: “The momentum towards achieving marriage equality is unstoppable,” Australian Marriage Equality national convenor Alex Greenwich said. Greenwich said a major obstacle to reform has been removed thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of ordinary Australians. “Today is a day of celebration for those ordinary Australians – gay and straight, young and old, city and country – who have called out for equality and had their voices answered,” he said. “We are disappointed Labor MPs have been given a conscience vote, but the momentum for change is unstoppable because marriage equality is an issue which resonates with fundamental Australian values like fairness and inclusion.
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