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... much as it galls me to admit it. As I've argued elsewhere on this thread, I support the Australian Government's move to make explicit the current definition of marriage (ie. that it is for a man and a woman). But mixed up with this the government also wants to ban the adoption of overseas children by gay parents.
The Australian Labor Party Opposition has decided to support the first move, but oppose the second. The snippet I caught on the radio suggested that its reason for the latter was that it considers adoptions to be a State issue, not a Federal one. Possibly, although I've not seen the ALP being especially hindered by such considerations in the past. No doubt there is a suitable international agreement which would give the Federal Government the leverage it needs to centralise the issue (under section 51(xxix) of the Constitution, 'External affairs').
However the way I read it, the Coalition government seems to be saying that it's better to be an orphan in a poor country, possibly starving and maltreated, than to be the adopted child of a gay couple in Australia. How wrong can you get? So well done for the ALP: right decision, even if possibly for the wrong reasons.
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