Tag Archives: Tony Abbott

Anti-LGBT Former Oz PM Tony Abbott Loses MP Seat

After he was ousted as Australian prime minister in 2015, Tony Abbott took his anti-LGBT campaign on the road, blasting same-sex marriage in a paid 2016 appearance before the US hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. And now he’s lost his seat in Parliament: Tony Abbott has conceded defeat in Warringah to independent Zali Steggall, revealing he feared his political career …

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Former Australian PM Tony Abbott To Again Keynote For Viciously Anti-LGBT US-Based Christian Hate Group

HuffPo Australia reports: Former Prime Minister and current backbencher Tony Abbott will once again address a controversial American Christian organisation which has been deemed a “hate group” and supports the criminalisation of homosexuality. The Australian Financial Review revealed on Thursday that Abbott, the member for Warringah, will travel to the United States later this month to deliver a speech to …

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BACKFIRED: Macklemore’s 2012 Pro-Gay Anthem Hits #1 On Australian Charts After Slam By Tony Abbott

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Calls from politicians, including a former PM, and others to ban US hip hop artist Macklemore from singing his hit Same Love at the NRL grand final have seemingly backfired, with the song shooting to the top of the Australian iTunes charts. Despite being first released in 2012 by the Seattle-based rapper and his co-writer …

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AUSTRALIA: Tony Abbott Backs Call To Ban Macklemore From Singing Hit Pro-Gay Song At National Rugby Final

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Former prime minister Tony Abbott has backed a call from same-sex marriage opponents to ban American rapper Macklemore from performing his pro-gay song Same Love at the NRL grand final. Former player Tony Wall, who played first grade briefly in the mid 1990s, is petitioning NRL boss Todd Greenberg to halt the half-time performance and …

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AUSTRALIA: Daughter Of Anti-Gay Former PM Tony Abbott Appears In Marriage Equality Ad [VIDEO]

The Guardian reports: Two weeks after she put herself at odds with her father, the country’s former prime minister, with a post on Instagram, Frances Abbott has appeared in an advert calling on Australians to back marriage equality in the country’s non-binding, voluntary survey. “You can’t help who you fall in love with. Love just happens sometimes and it’s unexpected …

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AUSTRALIA: Man Charged With Assaulting Former PM Tony Abbott Says It Had Nothing To Do With Marriage

The Guardian reports: The man charged with assaulting Tony Abbott has denied the alleged attack had anything to do with the same-sex marriage postal vote. Hobart DJ Astro “Funknukl” Labe, 38, was charged with one count of common assault on Friday over an alleged attack on the Hobart waterfront on Thursday afternoon. Labe was wearing a rainbow “yes” badge when …

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AUSTRALIA: Former PM Tony Abbott Claims He Was Assaulted By Supporter Of Same-Sex Marriage [VIDEO]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Former prime minister Tony Abbott says he was a victim of “politically motivated violence” after he was assaulted by a same-sex marriage campaigner in Hobart. Mr. Abbott said he was headbutted by a same-sex marriage campaigner in a Hobart street on Thursday who told him: ‘You deserve it because of all the things you’ve said.’ …

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AUSTRALIA: Nonbinding Postal Plebiscite On Marriage To Happen, Former PM Tony Abbott Urges “NO” Vote

UPI reports: Australian citizens will be asked where they stand on potential legalization of same-sex marriage in a non-binding mail-in vote, after lawmakers failed to pass legislation Wednesday to make it a national plebiscite vote issue in November. Canberra’s governing Liberal-National Coalition failed to pass a bill in Parliament that would have secured funding to restore Australia’s compulsory plebiscite on …

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Carpool Karaoke With Broadway Stars [VIDEO]

The Daily Beast recaps: On Monday night, James Corden hosted a special Tony Awards edition of “Carpool Karaoke” to drum up hype for the show, which he’ll be hosting on CBS the night of June 12. And of course, he had to have Pulitzer Prize-winning, MacArthur Genius Grant-receiving Lin-Manuel Miranda on, whose musical Hamilton set a Tonys record this year …

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AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Lifts “Continuity & Change” Slogan From HBO’s Veep

Actress Julie Louis-Dreyfus yesterday tweeted that she is “dumbstruck” that Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has begun using her Veep character’s amusingly contradictory campaign slogan in media appearances. Junkee reports: Over the past couple of days, Turnbull has been channeling his predecessor and whipping out a bit of a three-word slogan. He first broke it in on 7.30 with Leigh …

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AUSTRALIA: Senator Blasts Tony Abbott For Speaking To “Lunatic Fringe” US Hate Group [VIDEO]

Whoa. You’ll definitely want to watch this. Buzzfeed reports: Greens senator Robert Simms has ripped into former prime minister Tony Abbott for speaking to an ultra-conservative anti-gay group in the U.S. last week. “It advocates for the criminalisation of homosexuality and the abolition of anti-discrimination laws that protect the rights of LGBTI people,” he said. “It is a lunatic fringe …

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Former Australian PM Tony Abbott Attacks Same-Sex Marriage In Speech To Vicious US-Based Hate Group

As I reported earlier this week, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was flown to New York City yesterday by Alliance Defending Freedom. We now have the transcript of the speech he made to them at Manhattan’s Palace Hotel. An excerpt: For families, in Western countries at least, there’s the challenge of paying the rent or the mortgage; balancing family …

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Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott To Address Anti-LGBT Alliance Defending Freedom

The Guardian reports: Tony Abbott will address a far-right Christian group in the United States which lobbies against same-sex marriage and abortion. The former prime minister is travelling to the US this week to address the Alliance Defending Freedom, according to Fairfax Media. The group has been heavily involved in fighting the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US and …

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AUSTRALIA: Marriage Equality Activists Call For Immediate Meeting With New Prime Minister

From Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome: “This is the first time in Australia’s history that both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition have supported marriage equality, giving us an unprecedented opportunity to achieve the reform. We will seek an urgent meeting with Mr Turnbull to chart a way forward on a reform that he knows is …

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BREAKING: Tony Abbott Ousted As Australian Prime Minister, Replaced By Longtime Marriage Equality Supporter Malcolm Turnbull [VIDEO]

Huge news from the Sydney Morning Herald: Malcolm Turnbull will become Australia’s 29th prime minister after beating Tony Abbott in a dramatic leadership ballot in Canberra on Monday night. Mr Turnbull’s victory is reminiscent of the coup former prime minister Julia Gillard staged against Kevin Rudd in 2010 and makes the former communications minister Australia’s fifth prime minister in just …

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AUSTRALIA: Elderly Sydney Couple Together 48 Years Says “Let Us Get Married Before We Die”

Via ABC News: A Sydney-based gay couple aged in their late eighties, who have been in a relationship for 48 years, say they want the right to marry before they die. After a lifetime of relative privilege and opportunity, it is the one thing that eludes John Challis, and at 87, it really bothers him. “I’m not going to live …

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AUSTRALIA: Liberal Party MP Warren Entsch Defies PM Tony Abbott, Introduces Marriage Equality Bill [VIDEO]

A member of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s own Liberal Party yesterday introduced a marriage equality bill in defiance of Abbott’s mandate that all government MPs vote against any such attempt. The BBC reports: The bill was introduced by government backbencher Warren Entsch, one of several government backbenchers who plan to defy Mr Abbott by crossing the floor of the …

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AUSTRALIA: Thousands Rally For Marriage, Angrily Denounce Anti-Gay Prime Minster Tony Abbott [VIDEO]

Thousands of Australians rallied in Melbourne today in protest of Prime Minster Tony Abbott’s continued opposition to a free vote on marriage equality in Parliament. Via the Age: On a bustling city street under overcast skies, they came in their thousands. Some came in hope, optimistic that change was inevitable. Some came in anger, outraged at a prime minister standing …

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Australians To Rally Against PM Tony Abbott

Furious with Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s threat to fire party leaders who vote for same-sex marriage, this Saturday activists will rally in Melbourne. Via press release: This Saturday over 20,000 people will head into the Melbourne CBD to show their anger at Abbott’s manoeuvring to maintain homophobic discrimination in Australian law. Five reasons to join us and rally: 1. Eleven …

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AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Tony Abbott Threatens To Fire Party Leaders Who Vote For Same-Sex Marriage

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today threatened to fire party leaders who “break ranks” and vote for same-sex marriage. Nine News reports: The Prime Minister was responding to a potential vote on the legalisation of same-sex marriage, if MP Warren Entsch were to successfully introduce a cross-party bill to parliament this morning. “It is … the standard position of our …

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