Pyne’s Conscience Wasn’t on the Ballot

What is it with the Coalition MPs, a question I put as a stalwart supporter of right-of-centre parties? But over the last couple of years I have watched the current Australian government and wondered, ‘What side of politics are some of these Liberal MPs on?’

Let me start with yesterday’s Coalition caucus meeting, which tackled a conscience vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, and approach that issue in a circuitous way.  Some readers may know that I am a vociferous opponent of bills of rights.  At their simplest, bills of rights undermine democracy.  They transfer decision-making power from  elected legislators to committees of unelected ex-lawyers — which is, in part, is why the Julian Burnsides of this world like these instruments so much.  The calculation is that you can get more of your first-order preferences satisfied by judges (whom you reckon more likely to agree with you about leaky boats, euthanasia, prisoners voting, etc etc) than you can by elected…