The High Court of Australia has dismissed two challenges to the upcoming voluntary postal survey on legalising same-sex marriage.
Ballots for the non-binding survey, which have already been printed, will be sent out from next week and must be returned by 6pm on 7th November. The result is set to be announced at 11.30am on 15th November.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that if the result is ‘no’, the Government will not support a private members bill on the issue but that if the vote is ‘yes’, a private members bill could be voted on before the end of the year.
The cost of the survey, which is being run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has been put at being at least $122 million. It will contain one question: “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?”
Mr Turnbull said he encouraged “every Australian” to vote in the survey and reiterated that he and his wife Lucy will be voting ‘yes’.
The Coalition for Marriage, which is calling for a ‘no’ vote in the survey, welcomed the decision to proceed with it.
In a statement released by the coalition, both the Catholic and Anglican Archbishops of Sydney expressed their support for the postal vote.
“A change in the marriage law has consequences for all Australians, and so it is only fair that all Australians are allowed to make their voice heard,” said Most Rev Anthony Fisher, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney.
MP Andrew Wilkie, who was behind one of the challenges, expressed his disappointment that the survey was going ahead, describing it as “bad government policy”. He said he would be voting ‘yes’ in the survey and urged others to do so.
