New Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff Had Voted For Pro-LGBT Laws
Tasmanian Liberals have named Jeremy Rockliff as the state’s next Premier. Michael Ferguson will be the Deputy Premier.While Rockliff has a record of voting for marriage equality and other pro-LGBTQI laws, Ferguson has been known to have opposed and voted against laws for LGBTQI equality.In November 2015, Tasmania was the third state after New South Wales and Western Australia to pass an in-principle motion in support of same-sex marriages. Rockliff and then Premier Will Hodgman had voted for the Greens-sponsored motion that passed the House 15-9.In a speech in Parliament during the debate on the motion, Rockliff said that he had been a supporter of marriage equality for a few years and welcomed “the opportunity to express my views for the first time publicly, and I’m absolutely unequivocally in favour of same-sex marriage equality.”“I believe very firmly that those who are committed and in a loving relationship should have the ability by law and the eyes of the law in society that if they have chosen a significant other to spend the rest of their lives with then they should be able to get married.