Comedian Tim Minchin rewrites iconic Australian song to protest homophobic politicians blocking marriage equality
(Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Comedian Tim Minchin has rewritten an iconic song about Australia to launch an attack on “homophobic politicians” who are preventing the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Minchin, who is well known for his musical comedy numbers released the biting ballad which is based on the 1980 hit I Still Call Australia Home by Peter Allen.
The lyrics of the reworked I Still Call Australia Home(ophobic) take aim at the politicians leading the way on marriage equality in the country, and the pretty poor job that they are doing.
He sings: “I’m always travelling but wherever I stay, people love Aussies and they generally say, they think we’re kind, fun and funny, tall, tanned and toned… and a little bit racist, and a little bit homophobic.”
He goes on to look at the “upside” of the vote.
“At least we’ll know how many Aussies are bigoted c**ts. Yay, stats!”
He continued to sing: “Some day, we’ll all be together once more, once they do their bloody jobs and just change the f***ing law.
He also takes aims at religious critics of same-sex marriage: “Your attempt to keep Australia in the past will be a failure, because most of Australia ain’t homophobic.”
A postal vote on same-sex marriage will go ahead unless a lawsuit in the High Court is successful.
It comes after a lawmaker in the majority Liberal Party failed to pass a Parliamentary vote.
Lawmakers then attempted and failed to revive a plebiscite bill in the Senate.
Many feared that the postal vote would become a “hate speech bonanza” as the vote is being conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, rather than the Australian Electoral Commission.
This means that the vote is not subject to the Commonwealth Electoral Act’s prohibition on the use of any malicious or deceptive material.
Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann is putting forward legislation which will force the Bureau to abide by the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which prohibits the use of any malicious or deceptive material.
Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus suggested Labor’s support for the special law, saying “our inclination is to make sure that this is a respectful debate”.
However, Dreyfus said that the party would need to see the legislation before supporting it.
“If the government won’t stand up to the disrespectful and misleading and offensive things that have already been said – we gave Malcolm Turnbull an opportunity in the Parliament last week to condemn for example Bronwyn Bishop’s appalling comments.
“He didn’t. If the government won’t do that, perhaps we do need to look at other measures,” Dreyfus added.
