Australian Leaders Plan Vote on Same-Sex Marriage, One Way or Another
Australian Broadcasting Corporation said that I’ve said for many years that I want marriage equality in Australia, and I’ve campaigned for it,
Butler said that The problem is there is a minority of members of Parliament who nonetheless hold a majority of the influence
in the executive government who are preventing the executive government from agreeing to allowing the Parliament to vote.
8, 2017
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s governing Liberal Party met for hours behind closed doors on Tuesday to debate same-sex marriage, twisting itself in knots
and ending up with a two-step approach: If the Senate does not open the polls for a compulsory national vote, party officials said, then Australians will be invited to cast voluntary ballots on the issue by mail as early as September.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking at a news conference after the discussions, said
that holding a postal vote if the Senate rejected an in-person one would give people the opportunity to "have their say," though neither vote would be legally binding.
" Mr. Goss said. that That will be frustrating for advocates of marriage equality because it is absolutely clear in Australian law
that Parliament could make this change today or this week if it wanted to,
If that vote does proceed, and Australians decide yes by mail, a parliamentary vote on same-sex
marriage could happen before the end of the year — but only if the party in power agrees to it.
"There are no constitutional or legal reasons to hold this nationwide vote whatsoever." Several Liberal Party lawmakers have expressed exasperation
with the handful of colleagues, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who have resisted a simple vote in Parliament.
