“The Australian government has said it will oppose any new laws legalising gay civil unions.
Prime Minister John Howard said he did not intend to allow the institution of marriage “to be in any way undermined”.
…
The head of the ACT government, John Stanhope, said Mr Ruddock’s reaction revealed homophobia in the Howard administration.
“One has to pose the question of whether or not the real reason (for Mr Ruddock’s stance) is that there is no place in John Howard’s Australia for homosexuals,” he told ABC radio.” (BBC)
One also has to pose the question whether the announcement of the government’s intentions on the same day that the foreign and trade ministers were asked to give evidence to the Wheat Board inquiry is a mere coincidence, I suppose. {sigh…}