Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
says he'll attend his gay sister's wedding but remains opposed to
marriage equality.
Christine Foster, a Liberal council at
the City of Sydney, and Virginia Edwards became engaged just days
before the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the first
Australian jurisdiction to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Foster and Edwards plan to marry in
their home territory, New South Wales (NSW), which is also expected
to debate the issue.
Foster, 49, has said that her brother
and his wife Margie “will definitely” attend the wedding.
“If there's a ceremony of some kind,
yes, I will be there with a present,” Abbott
told 3AW. “I'll do the right thing.”
But Abbott added that he's a
“traditionalist” on marriage.
“From time immemorial in every
culture that's been known, a marriage, or that kind of solemnized
relationship, has been between a man and a woman,” he said.
Abbott, whose conservative
Liberal-National coalition swept into power on September 7 on a
pledge to lower taxes, has steadfastly opposed marriage equality and
has pledged to legally challenge ACT's marriage law.