Australian prime minister promises gay marriage ‘in 100 days’ if re-elected

The Australian prime minister has used the first election debate to promise legislation on gay marriage within 100 days were he to be re-elected, “as a mark of decency to same-sex couples across the country”.

Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Tony Abbott discussed the economy and immigration in the first televised debate before the September 7th election, facing about an hour of questions from journalists at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Mr Rudd said he supported legalising same-sex marriage to recognise couples “who wish the same loving, caring relationship that, for example, I have had with Therese, my wife, now for the last 32 years, and for that to be formalised”.

He promised Labor MPs a free vote on the issue and appealed to Mr Abbott to do the same “because folk out there want this to happen”. Mr Abbott said same-sex marriage was “a very important issue”, acknowledging his gay sister, Christine Forster, who was in the audience with her partner.

He said the matter had been recently debated by the parliament and would not be a high priority for an incoming Liberal-National coalition. Mr Abbott said it would be up to the coalition to decide whether its MPs should get a conscience vote.

Same-sex marriage arose in the final minutes of an encounter that was dominated by economic policy. The leaders were fairly evenly matched – two of the voter reaction “worms” run by commercial television stations gave the debate to Mr Rudd and one to Mr Abbott, but many commentators thought the coalition leader had come out narrowly ahead.

The Guardian's worm gave Mr Rudd a comprehensive win.

On climate change, Mr Abbott refused to countenance emission reductions beyond 5 per cent by 2020, despite having signed up to the same higher targets as Labor under the same conditions for action by other countries.

He did not deal in “hypotheticals” and implied there was no need to move further because fewer countries were meeting their emission reduction obligations with a carbon tax.

Mr Rudd said Labor would honour Australia’s international obligations and took a dig at Mr Abbott’s previous doubts about climate science. “We will be doing a disservice to our kids and grandkids if we do not act . . .

"We never doubted the science, unlike some. What really frightens the hell out of me – to be frank – in my home state of Queensland is the effect on the Great Barrier Reef."

On economics, Mr Rudd’s attack centred on the allegation that Mr Abbott was favouring big corporations over families.

He said he was offering “tax cuts that benefit very large corporations in the main – there’s not a lot in it for families”. Mr Abbott said his company tax cuts were all about economic growth to protect people’s jobs.

However after Mr Rudd had again recited his plan to deal with an end to the mining investment boom by improving productivity, Mr Abbott delivered his most cut-through attack line, saying Mr Rudd had "said exactly the same thing in this debate six years ago" when he was competing against former prime minister John Howard. – (Guardian service)