This week’s first installment of the four-part Howard Years on ABC1 was an interesting refresher on that long, long period of Australian history – and an opportunity to see how far behind we’ve left the Howard Way in such a short space of time.

Never is this more evident than law reform for same-sex couples, a concept to which John Howard was bitterly opposed and came down hard on those in his party who dared support it. During last week’s Senate debates on Labor’s landmark general law reform bill, the opposition was noticeably less vocal about Protecting The Sanctity Of Marriage than it certainly would’ve been were Howard still in charge. Token ‘maverick’ senator Barnaby Joyce, who to his credit caused Howard the odd headache as well, pipped in rather demurely about ‘pulling down’ the meaning of marriage, grumbling that although he would not specifically be voting against a second reading of the bill, he was voicing reservations ‘on behalf of so many of my colleagues who hold very strong views on this issue … at this point’.

No doubt this is true; the recent inflammatory rhetoric of Senator Bernardi reminded us that anti-queer conservatives still reside safely and soundly in the coalition. The difference this time, however, is that where Howard would have quietly condoned, even encouraged, Bernardi and Joyce, these days they’re getting reined in. Malcolm Turnbull allegedly blasted Bernardi the morning after his contribution, basically demanding he pull his head in. And after Joyce’s little sulk, shadow Attorney-General Brandis immediately stepped in to assure the Senate that ‘the opposition’s position is as I indicated in my speech … earlier in the day’ – that is, it would support the bill and put forward amendments only after it voted, unanimously, in favour of passing second reading – no conscience vote allowed.

No senator seeking continued employment will publicly contradict a peer from their own party, much less in the parliament itself, but this was the closest we got to seeing one moderate Liberal telling another conservative National to shut it, and not jeopardise the bill’s eventual passage.

Equally, no Liberal currently in office would explicitly acknowledge Howard’s failure to initiate any equality reforms during his nearly 12 years in office – yet Senator Birmingham did stress that he ‘wish(ed) these reforms had been undertaken some time ago’. In some ways, this was a counter-example of Howard dog whistling – putting out a coded message that not all coalition members shared Howard’s vision, and with that particular cat now gone forever, the moderate mice can finally come out to play.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

Sam Butler: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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