Freud on Work & Love ~ proposal made on Aussie Parliament floor

It was, in all likelihood, the first marriage proposal to be made at that place; the answer came back fast and loud: "Yes." ~ yet it is making news ! guess why ??

Canberra will become Australia’s newest Test venue next summer at the expense of Hobart in a season that will extend well into January. Aussie press reports that the   cash cow (read Indians)  will be there for four Tests from Dec, with the last two at the MCG and SCG.  That leaves the two-Test Sri Lanka series to be held in January, bringing Australia Day in Adelaide into play, with the other match to be played in Canberra.

Canberra, is the capital city of Australia.  It is  Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a "Canberran".  The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, variously referred to as the Australian Parliament, the Commonwealth Parliament or the Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Queen of Australia, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Down under, an independent Australian senator, who is British by descent, has become the eighth lawmaker to leave Parliament in recent months over a 116-year-old constitutional ban on dual nationals running for office that threatens to bring down the government. Jacqui Lambie tearfully resigned recently, a day after the Senate set a Dec. 1 deadline for Australia-born senators to provide documented evidence that they had not inherited the citizenship of an immigrant parent or grandparent. The conservative coalition could lose two seats in by-elections next month after John Alexander resigned from Parliament last week because he was likely British. Kristina Keneally, a Las Vegas-born former New South Wales state premier, has announced she will run for Alexander’s seat, having renounced her U.S. citizenship.

Sure you have debated this … Sigmund Freud himself identified the two great arenas of human enterprise as Love and Work. But love at work is apparently considerably less great, at least in the mind of your boss. Across nearly every industry and organization, corporate will has attempted to stem the flood of affection—frowning, legislating, transferring, firing, and handbook holding against its inevitable tide.  Three things really bother the work world: the potential for abuse, the potential for alliance, and (worst of all?) the potential for distraction. All three threaten the bottom line.

When official relations bosom, reaction many a times, is negative.  It is not against romance but romance at workplace, is what they tend to say.  Businesses and companies are ever confused at whether or not they should interfere in the romantic relationship. If they do choose to interfere, what department should be in control of handling the situation and what policies should be set if workplace romances do happen? It was, in all likelihood, the first marriage proposal to be made on the floor of Parliament. And the answer came back fast and loud: "Yes."

The word has been heard ad nauseam in recent weeks, but rarely in a context so personal. The Melbourne pair have considered themselves fiances for years, and now, as same-sex marriage enters the final stretch of parliamentary debate, their long-awaited wedding day finally nears.  Sydney Morning Herald reports that Liberal MP Tim Wilson proposed to his partner Ryan Bolger during debate on the marriage bill on Monday at the Parliament.   It is reported that the joyous moment followed a fiery speech in which Mr Wilson castigated the Liberal Party over its tortured path towards enabling marriage equality, particularly those who insisted on putting same-sex marriage to a popular vote.

"They have been prepared to discard numerous principles - parliamentary supremacy, representative democracy, our party's tradition of a free vote, fiscal prudence and free speech," Mr Wilson said. "I take great pride in being able to say at every single occasion I stood up and defended our institutions, traditions and freedoms ahead of the politics of the day. "Some took a stop-change-at-all-costs approach, and the full costs now come with it. That was their choice - not those seeking change, and not mine. My conscience is clear." The Liberal Party should "reflect on this debate and learn from it", Mr Wilson said.  The legalisation of same-sex marriage would make lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians "full citizens for the first time", Mr Wilson said. 

"This bill rams a stake into the heart of that stigma and its legacy," he declared. Later, the official House of Representatives Twitter account posted that, after examining Hansard records, it believed Mr Wilson was the first person ever to propose on the floor of the house. Other gay Liberal MPs, including Trent Zimmerman and Trevor Evans, spoke in favour of the bill on Monday morning after it was introduced by LGBTI ally and long-standing gay rights campaigner in the Liberal Party, Warren Entsch.

Debate on the bill is expected to conclude by Wednesday or Thursday and pass easily ! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

4^th Dec 2017.