BOWMAN MP Andrew Laming will not say how he will vote on same-sex marriage in parliament, yet in 2011 publicly stated that he was opposed to such unions.
In 2011, the Brisbane Times asked 30 Queensland-based MPs about their personal views on same-sex marriage.
Mr Laming responded that he was “opposed to same-sex marriage – support legally-equivalent civil unions as an alternative”.
Redlands resident Peter Wear, who runs a blog site https://www.facebook.com/groups/coochiedecides/, said Mr Laming had left it too late to be coy on what he thought of gay marriage.
Mr Wear said although Mr Laming had supported the current Statistics Bureau postal survey on same-sex marriage, it might be too early to assume he would vote in parliament as Australia, Queensland or even the Bowman electorate did.
“I cannot find a statement from him that pledges to respect the ABS result when he votes in parliament,” he said. “A question on that has been sent to him and awaits a response.
“It leaves open the possibility that Andrew Laming's true colours, his clear and concise rejection of marriage equality back in 2011, will dictate his parliamentary vote.”
Mr Laming said today that in 2011 he preferred universal civil unions for all, regardless of gender preference.
“But I took an impartial position when the question was first added to my electorate survey late 2011 and reported early 2012,” he said.
“We have surveyed annually since then, save for one year and that has been my position since. No other MP nationwide has taken this approach.”
Mr Wear said same sex marriage advocates were cautiously optimistic as polls predicted the government postal survey was headed for a two-to-one victory in favour of changing marriage laws although there was still about a month to run.
If these predictions proved accurate, legislation would quickly be brought before parliament.
“Federal politicians will have to choose whether to vote according to their own publicised stance, the national result of the postal survey, or the way the votes went in their own state or electorate,” he said.
Mr Wear said Mr Laming could end up conflicted if his responses to the issue were any guide to what he actually thought.
“In 2011, he made it quite clear that he was an opponent of same sex marriage,” Mr Wear said.
Mr Wear said that in the years since, perhaps sensing a change in the national mood, Mr Laming had suppressed his opinion and outsourced his conscience to his electorate by way of his postal survey which consistently found gay marriage supporters outnumbered in Bowman.
“The problem is, Laming has never explained how Bowman could be so utterly out of step with every other poll in almost every electorate across the country,” Mr Wear said.
“Given that Laming ... controls every aspect of his own surveys, cynicism is inevitable. It's not helped by the conspicuous flaws in his survey methods.”
