Tasmania and same-sex marriage

True, there is one lonely constitutional law professor, George Williams of the University of NSW, who backs this plan. But other experts are sceptical. Professor Anne Twomey, of the University of Sydney, for example, writes: "A Tasmanian law permitting same-sex marriage, even if operative, would do little more than facilitate holding a ceremony, drinking champagne and taking photos."

Instead of being a beacon of luminous intelligence, Tasmania will be a legal laughing-stock.

Another extraordinary claim made for same-sex marriage is that it will bring $100 million into the state if it becomes the first jurisdiction to allow same-sex couples to wed. Gay couples will flood into Tasmania, activists have claimed over and over again in The Mercury.

What is the basis for this extraordinary attempt to bribe struggle street Tasmanians? A back-of-the envelope report with more heroic assumptions than the Iliad.

A Massachusetts academic, Lee Badgett, estimated back in February that the economic benefits of same-sex marriage in Australia would range between $161 million ("conservative") and $742 million ("plausible"). Tasmania's share would be $96 million.

Tasmania's incompetent government and amateurish leadership are often blamed on the Realpolitik of life in a coalition. Labor can only cling to power by snuggling up to Greens who think that toiling as wedding planners or sherpas for overweight eco-tourists is a great future for the state.

But Tasmanians have also been betrayed by their media. It's bad enough living with the highest unemployment rate and the highest suicide rate of any state. When journalists bask in Lara Giddings' silken smiles and toss back her absurd rationalisations like a shot of scotch, they are betraying their responsibilities in the democratic process.

Where were the hard questions about denying children the civil right to have both a father and a mother, about whether same-sex parenting harms children, about the rights of people who object to schools teaching children about gay sex, and so on?

The depth of The Mercury's misgivings was revealed on Saturday. It ran a front page photo of local-girl-made-good Rachael Taylor, now an underwear model and Hollywood starlet. "Well done, Tassie! Well done!" was her message.

Still, in the end, it is the politicians who make the laws.

An exchange in Parliament last Thursday between Labor Deputy Premier Bryan Green and Greens MP Cassy O'Connor tells you all you need to know about their analytical powers. "It is not a big issue really, when it all boils down, is it?" he said. "No, it's not," she replied. "It's just love."

No wonder these guys can't pull the Apple Isle out of its economic hole. They're just too dumb.