If the Liberal Party holds on to power after this weekend's election, it has promised to hold a plebiscite on the issue of gay marriage.  Although Labor leader Bill Shorten now favors a Parliamentary vote to avoid a divisive campaign, some still like the idea of a public vote.

Mr. Shorten in the past has backed the idea of letting Aussies decide directly.  But now, he fears the Liberal government's plan would quickly become  a "platform for homophobia" and says parliament should just do its job and make the decision.  He also questions the cost of a plebiscite, deriding it as a "$160m taxpayer funded opinion poll which conservatives in the Liberal Party say they're not even going to be bound by".

But, US Ambassador to Australia John Berry says a plebiscite can deliver the right results.  He cites Ireland's referendum a year ago, which made it the first nation to legalize marriage equality by popular vote.  Shorten thought the campaign brought out too many divisive, negative elements.

Mr. Berry is openly gay, and says the last three years he has spent here with his husband has been trouble-free: 

"Being in Australia obviously as an openly gay ambassador, my husband and I have been accorded nothing but absolute respect in our three years here in your country.  We are enormously grateful and enormously respectful of how equality is revered here in your country," said Ambassador Berry, as quoted by Fairfax Media.  

"It's part I think of your national ethos that everybody deserves a fair go.  And we have certainly been given our fair go by everyone we've met in Australia in every state by every leader.

"So I certainly believe however Australia decides to move forward on this issue it will be done with great respect.  I think Australia's one of the most rational countries in the world. You handle debate and discussion better than anybody quite frankly.  In America we tend to throw emotion in a lot and that sort of tends to turn the temperature up on things."