Doug PollardSham 'conscience vote' on Assisted Reproduction Bill
October 24th 2008 09:43
How Stuff Works - A Liberal/National 'Conscience' Vote
Q: When is a conscience vote not a conscience vote?
A: When you are told that you are of course free to exercise your conscience – just don’t be surprised if you’re out of a job come pre-selection time
That’s the situation facing Liberal and National members of the Victorian upper house, as the vote on Assisted Reproduction Treatment draws near – perhaps as soon as next week.
Both major parties have allowed their members a conscience vote – but the Liberals and Nationals are determined they won’t lose this one.
They lost on the same-sex relationship register, stem cell research and abortion, but now the party hierarchy has drawn a line in the sand.
‘They’ve had their three strikes,’ I was told, ‘one more and they’re out.’
The party is of course at liberty to impose discipline and insist all members toe the line – provided they do so publicly. Everyone would then know the party policy on the issue.
But if the LibNats do that, it’s an invitation to Labor to do likewise – and then the bill would almost certainly pass.
As it stands, by maintaining the illusion of a free vote by all members, some Labor members feel free to vote against the bill. Combine that with a 100% LibNat ‘No’ vote, and the bill goes down.
Of course, on the record it’s all above board, no pressure, totally free. But off the record it’s a different story. Members being told that if they vote for the bill – as their conscience dictates – then they can expect ‘very close scrutiny of your preselection’, according to one upper house member.
It’s not hard to work out who must be under this kind of pressure, whatever they may feel obliged to say in public. Genuine Liberals in the traditional Menzies mould, such as Matthew Guy, Andrea Coote, Wendy Lovell and Donna Petrovich, who have a record of supporting gay and lesbian issues, are obvious targets for this sort of bullying.
‘I wouldn’t use words like “threatened”, or “bullied”,’ said one source.
Being told you have to vote against your conscience while pretending to do the opposite, under threat of losing your job, sure looks a lot like bullying and threatening to me.
And it seems to work. There was a free vote in the lower house on the ART Bill – and not a single LibNat voted in favour. That’s rather too large a coincidence for me, even without the leaks now coming from the upper house.
The Victorian Liberal Party, that famously ‘broad church’, suddenly seems terribly narrow, doesn’t it?
UPDATE SUNDAY
I have been in touch with a Liberal or two and have been told that this story is, according to them, 'crap'. I have been told by a gay Liberal:
The Liberal Party simply doesn't work that way.
Opponents have thousands of letter writers. We have about three people. If you had three letters vs one thousand, which way would you go?
Well in my book a conscience vote means you vote according to your own personal conscience in the matter. Not the policy of your party, and not the conscisnce of your constituents, you PERSONAL conscience.
This 'reassurance' seems to me to affirm what I have been told - that pressure is being applied to get people to toe the line.
There are legitimate concerns about the Bill. I have told Corey they need to consult and find a way to split off sections of the Bill that will be palatable and get through.
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