BRISBANE — The prospect of Queensland becoming the first Australian state using citizen initiated referenda (CIR) is sending tremors through the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations, according to the August 20 issue of Brother Sister.
Queensland Coalition leader Rob Borbidge, One Nation's Bill Feldman and independent MP Peter Wellington, all intend to introduce private member's bills to introduce CIR. The right wing wants CIR for controversial issues such as capital punishment, prostitution and youth curfews.
Labor says it will oppose any CIR legislation, but would lose the vote if the Coalition, One Nation and the two independents vote in favour of one CIR model.
Under Wellington's model, a referendum would be held if 2.5% of voters from at least 40 state electorates signed a petition of support.
The article in Brother Sister points out that the introduction of CIR in Oregon and Colorado in the US has resulted in referenda on gay and lesbian equal rights laws, sparking vicious, and in some states successful, anti-gay anti-"special rights" campaigns by right-wing, fundamentalist Christian groups.
In some US states, referenda have led to the repealing of laws which prohibit the refusal of employment and accommodation on the grounds of sexual orientation, thereby legalising homophobic discrimination.
The convener of the Queensland Association for Gay and Lesbian Rights, Shayne Wilde, told Brother Sister that "Queensland is not ready for a referendum on equal rights, probably not even on a bill of rights". She said that the proposed percentage for a petition across 45 seats makes the referendum process easy for organised religious or rural-based political groups to use CIR for their own benefit.
Wilde said, "In the event of a referendum on gay rights, the state-wide campaign that would be mounted against us would be extremely damaging. That's certainly what the American example would indicate. The community in Queensland would have to do what the communities in the US had to do when they were faced with this erosion of their rights — run a committed, well organised campaign throughout the state, including regional centres and rural areas to combat the campaign against us.
"With the different kinds of religious groups we have in Queensland, and One Nation's rhetoric about 'special rights for minorities', the setting is quite ripe for something like this to happen."