Down under, an
independent Australian senator, who is British by descent, has become the
eighth lawmaker to leave Parliament in recent months over a 116-year-old
constitutional ban on dual nationals running for office that threatens to bring
down the government. Jacqui Lambie tearfully resigned recently, a day after the
Senate set a Dec. 1 deadline for Australia-born senators to provide documented
evidence that they had not inherited the citizenship of an immigrant parent or
grandparent. The conservative coalition could lose two seats in by-elections
next month after John Alexander resigned from Parliament last week because he
was likely British. Kristina Keneally, a Las Vegas-born former New South Wales
state premier, has announced she will run for Alexander’s seat, having
renounced her U.S. citizenship.
Sure you have
debated this … Sigmund Freud himself identified the two great arenas of human
enterprise as Love and Work. But love at work is apparently considerably less
great, at least in the mind of your boss. Across nearly every industry and
organization, corporate will has attempted to stem the flood of
affection—frowning, legislating, transferring, firing, and handbook holding against
its inevitable tide. Three things really
bother the work world: the potential for abuse, the potential for alliance, and
(worst of all?) the potential for distraction. All three threaten the bottom
line.
When official
relations bosom, reaction many a times, is negative. It is not against romance but romance at
workplace, is what they tend to say.
Businesses and companies are ever confused at whether or not they should
interfere in the romantic relationship. If they do choose to interfere, what
department should be in control of handling the situation and what policies
should be set if workplace romances do happen? It
was, in all likelihood, the first marriage proposal to be made on the floor of
Parliament. And the answer came back fast and loud: "Yes."
The word has been
heard ad nauseam in recent weeks, but rarely in a context so personal. The
Melbourne pair have considered themselves fiances for years, and now, as
same-sex marriage enters the final stretch of parliamentary debate, their
long-awaited wedding day finally nears.
Sydney Morning Herald reports that Liberal MP Tim Wilson proposed to his
partner Ryan Bolger during debate on the marriage bill on Monday at the
Parliament. It is reported that the
joyous moment followed a fiery speech in which Mr Wilson castigated the Liberal
Party over its tortured path towards enabling marriage equality, particularly
those who insisted on putting same-sex marriage to a popular vote.
"They have
been prepared to discard numerous principles - parliamentary supremacy,
representative democracy, our party's tradition of a free vote, fiscal prudence
and free speech," Mr Wilson said. "I take great pride in being able
to say at every single occasion I stood up and defended our institutions,
traditions and freedoms ahead of the politics of the day. "Some took a
stop-change-at-all-costs approach, and the full costs now come with it. That
was their choice - not those seeking change, and not mine. My conscience is
clear." The Liberal Party should "reflect on this debate and learn
from it", Mr Wilson said. The
legalisation of same-sex marriage would make lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and intersex Australians "full citizens for the first
time", Mr Wilson said.
"This bill
rams a stake into the heart of that stigma and its legacy," he declared. Later,
the official House of Representatives Twitter account posted that, after examining
Hansard records, it believed Mr Wilson was the first person ever to propose on
the floor of the house. Other gay Liberal MPs, including Trent Zimmerman and
Trevor Evans, spoke in favour of the bill on Monday morning after it was
introduced by LGBTI ally and long-standing gay rights campaigner in the Liberal
Party, Warren Entsch.
Debate on the bill
is expected to conclude by Wednesday or Thursday and pass easily !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
4th Dec 2017.
