same-sex marriage becomes realit

So Malcolm Turnbull has manoeuvred through the minefield of Coalition tensions to have same-sex marriage finally legislated – as promised – before Christmas.

The much derided plebiscite is key to that success.It provided the Prime Minister with the crucial public endorsement of a clear majority of Australians who turned out to be willing to vote in surprisingly high and enthusiastic numbers.This made it far simpler for Turnbull  to reject the argument soft he conservatives opposed to same-sex marriage or wanting amendment sun acceptable to Labor.

The popular vote meant there could be no more references to the will of the silent majority being ignored.

Instead, for the majority, the result engendered a sense that worthwhile reform in Australia remained possible, despite widespread frustration with the political process.

Not that this episode is over in terms of internal party frictions about the strength of the No vote.

The easy defeat of any amendments to the original bill put forward by Senator Dean Smith will continue to rankle conservatives, who believe there are insufficient protections for freedom of religion, speech and parental rights.

That includes a couple of amendments supported, ever so delicately, by Turnbull. But he certainly wasn’t trying to stake his prime ministerial authority on these or on lamenting their predictable failure.

Instead, the special panel established by Turnbull – and chaired by Philip Ruddock – to review protections for religious freedom by next March has taken the sting out of opponents’ ability to stir up concerns right now.

For most Australians, the protracted parliamentary speeches of politicians wanting to express their views on the record are largely irrelevant. The issue is effectively now over in terms of majority public opinion. The vote in the House of Representatives was merely necessary confirmation the politicians had done their job, as instructed.

For Turnbull, it also signals a more positive push to end the parliamentary year after so many months of negative community sentiment, defeat over dual citizenship in the High Court, continuing Senate blockages, and a general sense of drift reflected in the disappointing Coalition result in the Queensland election and the Nationals’ willingness to defy the Liberal leadership over a banking royal commission.

Since then, Barnaby Joyce’s big win in New England had little to do with Turnbull but it has helped engender a sense of hope that stopping the political rot is at least possible. The government is also sounding increasingly confident Liberal John Alexander will hang on in Bennelong.

The enthusiastic reception for John Howard campaigning in the electorate on Thursday demonstrates how community nostalgia for the political and economic stability the former prime minister represents has strengthened since he ignominiously lost his seat in 2007.

A decade on, the current Liberal Prime Minister is struggling even more to retain his political appeal, with little sign this will change.

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Turnbull is also far more confident that Bill Shorten is at last looking more exposed to Coalition assaults, especially over the Labor leader’s judgment in keeping Senator Sam Dastyari in the caucus.

Continuing to protect a politician who has become such a figure of public scorn and suspicion on national security issues is certainly a potent theme to be embraced by the Coalition.

Turnbull mocked Shorten for suggesting abandoning the last question time of the year, supposedly in the interests of getting the same-sex marriage legislation passed as quickly as possible.

‘‘I wonder why, I wonder why,’’ Turnbull derided his opponent as the government happily linked together the failings of Dastyari and Shorten and Kristina Keneally, Labor’s candidate in Bennelong.

After question time, Shorten angrily rejected what he said was the blatantly untrue and blatantly irresponsible suggestion from Turnbull that he had passed on confidential security information to Dastyari. The general odour hanging over Dastyari will not be so easily dismissed by the public.

Yet while the government basks in a rare period of end-of-Parliament calm after such a tumultuous few months, this is purely temporary relief.

The stalled consumer spending in the September quarter, according to the figures released this week, is another demonstration of how people are not feeling at all relaxed and comfortable about their own economic circumstances. At 0.1 per cent growth, the increase is the lowest since the December quarter of 2008 when the world was in financial panic mode.

Scott Morrison and Turnbull regularly make the proud boast the economy is creating 1000 jobs a day. They are less keen to boast about the very low 0.3 per cent increase in average wages for individual employees who are so obviously feeling pressured by cost of living increases and often huge mortgages.

That political pressure won’t recede even if Australia is fast heading into the Christmas shut down, particularly shutting down most interest in politics.

The obvious risk is the Coalition will just look more becalmed – rather than calm – without substantial improvements in style, direction and achievement developed over summer to launch itself into next year.

Turnbull needs to get busy on his Christmas wish list.