I’ll vote for you, but I’ll resent it

My blog posts are usually shameless self-promotion for my theatre shows, same with Facebook. Instagram is for my baking pics and Twitter is usually a way to praise my favourite TV shows. But today I feel the need to write something quite political. It’s been eating away at me for months and I need to get it off my chest.

I have been a Labor voter for as long as I could be. As soon as I turned 18 and could vote, I did, for Labor. Federal, state and even local if there was a candidate. I remember getting very upset when Paul Keating was defeated. I remember celebrating loudly with an entire pub in Newtown, Sydney, when Kevin Rudd won. I even handed out pamphlets in John Howard’s electorate, hoping he’d be ousted. I liked the party, and I thought they liked me. I don’t think that anymore.

Earlier in the year there was a conscience vote for legalising gay marriage. It was defeated, embarrassingly. I had never felt like such a minority in my own country. There was a knot in my stomach that didn’t go away for ages, I felt like upset and angry. Then I hear of all these other countries legalising gay marriage, or marriage equality, and I am disgusted that my own country will not be allowing it anytime soon. Am I second class citizen?

My own local member, Labor’s Michael Danby, abstained from voting. It was just like voting no. I wanted answers, so I sent Facebook posts and emails asking for a reason. I received no correspondence back. So I went with a friend to his office. He wasn’t there, or if he was, he wasn’t going to speak to someone from his electorate about an issue. I proceeded to tell the man behind the counter why I was there. He seemed quite dismissive. When I told him for the first time I was considering not voting Labor, he literally laughed in my face, and said, “What are you gonna do, vote Liberal?” No, I wouldn’t do that, but I’m sure the Greens are more a threat in the seat of Port Melbourne than Liberal.

I left that office feeling angry and unsatisfied. A few days later I received an impersonal letter detailing Mr Danby’s public support for marriage equality. Apparently just not enough support to vote for it. Many people hide behind religious views for their discrimination. This includes my parent’s local member, Labor’s Ed Husic, who has flat out refused to ever vote for marriage equality. However I was taught by mother, a former Sunday School teacher, that people shouldn’t judge others and that God loves all his people. This was reinforced by my own Sunday School education. (Remarkably I was constantly a prize winner in my time at Sunday School, how the mighty have fallen.)

Here’s the religious kicker, our prime minister, who I’ve always been a big supporter of, is an atheist. So why won’t she support marriage equality? Apparently 64% of Australians support marriage equality. If the Labor party brought in marriage equality today there would 64% of the country who would say, “Well down”. That’s practically double their current approval rating. Seems strange to me.

I’m not looking for a lot, I just want what everyone else has. I want the opportunity to marry the person I choose. I am a proud gay man and if someday my boyfriend and I decide to get married, then we bloody well should be allowed to. Is it really too much to ask for?

So as September rolls around I will vote Labor. I am scared of the country we will become if Tony Abbott becomes Prime Minister. I look what Campbell Newman has done to Queensland, the slashing of funding to things I hold dear, and I worry what Abbott will do with the same power. So Mr Danby and Ms Gillard, I’ll vote for you, but I’ll resent it. And I am certainly not going to keep quiet anymore. Not until I can marry like everyone else.

                                                            My boyfriend Nick and I

                                                       Photo by Deborah Dorman-Halls

FLAME TREES, BUSHFIRES AND SENTIMENTAL BULLSHIT

I write, a lot. It’s work, and it’s a hobby. I’ve even dreamt about writing. In fact, I’m doing it right now. That means I end up producing a lot of theatre. Sometimes it means I finish a play, read it, and relegate it to a folder never to be seen by anyone ever again. It's better when that doesn't happen. I do remember an early play that had a ghost as the central character, I'm sure it's in a folder somewhere.

                                                          Photo by Sarah Candeland

My latest production is “Flame Trees” at Theatre Works in St Kilda. I don’t say latest play, cause let’s face it, I’m working on 10 other plays right now. “Flame Trees” is a play I’ve been wanting to write for years, and as with many of my big dramas I go back and forth with it. I think I probably wrote 15 pages a year for 4 years with this one. While I wasn’t always writing it, it was always in that black abyss I call my brain, burning away, thinking of new ways to carry on the story. I’m so glad I finally got it out and onto the page, because it’s a script I’m very proud of.

I have had an obsession with the Australian Outback, and continue it with this play. Bushfires have been the curse of many rural towns, and the one in the centre of “Flame Trees” is no different. One particularly savage fire ten years ago decimated the area and killed a young woman. A local woman, Tess, confessed to setting the fire and went to prison. All these years later she returns to town, and no one is very happy to see her. That’s the basic premise of the play, but of course there’s a lot more than just that. At the heart of the play is a relationship drama that poses the question, what do you do when someone you love does something so hideously out of character? Often it speaks to your own character, how you relate to those around you? My hope was to make a raw and emotional drama with relatable characters and a story that will keep the audience hooked.

The show is about to complete its debut run and audiences seemed to have really enjoyed the play, both the production and my script. It does give such amazing joy to me when people relate to the script. While I write because I have a story to tell, of course I want others to enjoy it as well.

So with just a few days to go, I’d ask if you’re in Melbourne, to come and see this great little play with an explosive story and an amazing cast – that just happens to feature me.

“Flame Trees” is on at Theatre Works St Kilda until Saturday March 16. Remaining shows are 8pm and tickets and info can be found at www.theatreworks.org.au