Campaigns for both the ‘no’ and ‘yes’ votes in the upcoming voluntary postal survey on same-sex marriage were officially launched in Australia over the weekend.
On Saturday night, the ‘no’ vote campaign was launched at Darling Harbour in Sydney with speakers including Turnbull Government Senator Matthew Canavan, Senator Cory Bernardi and Lyle Shelton, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby and Coalition for Marriage spokesman. The campaign launch, which was reportedly attended by more than 1,000 people, came as the coalition launched its second television ad.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, actor Magda Szubanski was among those spear-heading the launch of the ‘Post Your Yes’ campaign in Melbourne. Other events in support of the yes campaign took places in cities around Australia.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which is conducting the survey, last week started posting out survey forms which bear the question: “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
The more than 16 million forms are expected to be delivered by 25th September. The ABS is encouraging people to return forms by 27th October with 6pm on 7th November the cut-off date. The result will be announced on 15th November.
