CROOME, WILKIE LEAD FIGHT

LEGAL SHOWDOWN OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

TASMANIAN marriage equality advocate Rodney Croome is at the centre of a High Court legal action to block the Federal Government’s $122 million postal plebiscite on same-sex marriage.

Mr Croome is supporting legal action by Tasmanian Denison MP Andrew Wilkie, the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and individual Felicity Marlowe, who are seeking a court injunction to have preparations for the postal vote stopped.

Mr Croome said supporters wanted to see a free vote in Parliament. “We are not mucking around and the papers will go into the substantive matters,” he said.

The move came after Labor, the Greens, Nick Xenophon Team and crossbenchers yesterday blocked in the Senate a Government bid to reopen debate on the compulsory plebiscite Bill.

Mr Croome said the High Court challenge would be run by Victorian barrister Ron Merkel QC.

“Last week, Mr Merkel produced for us legal advice which said that in general the idea of a postal vote could exceed the Government’s executive power and that it would be possible the Government would require legislation and a Budgetary allocation to proceed on this course,” he said.

“Given the Senate’s decision today on a plebiscite we know now that [a budget allocation] would be very unlikely.

“Mr Merkel’s further advice on the Government’s current proposal to run this postal vote through the Bureau of Statistics is that there also are constitutional problems with that.

“The problem of the Government exceeding its executive authority continues to be an issue with this new proposal.

“Mr Merkel also feels that the idea of there being a postal vote run through the ABS may exceed the ABS’s authority, particularly when you consider whether a postal vote on marriage equality is actually statistic gathering or not.”

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said: “The Government is confident that we have the constitutional power and statutory authority to proceed with a postal plebiscite as proposed. This is now a matter for the High Court.”

The Government said on Tuesday that it hoped the postal plebiscite, proposed to be held between September and November 7, would mean that a vote in Parliament could be held before the end of the parliamentary year.

Mr Croome said marriage equality advocates were launching the action because a postal vote was an “expensive, unrepresentative, non-binding, divisive, potentially hateful waste of time”.

Shelley Argent, the spokeswoman for the group Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said the non-compulsory postal vote was “designed to fail”.

“What they could do is have the free vote [in parliament] — there is more dignity and respect,” she said.

Mr Wilkie, who met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday, said it was “frightening” to watch the Government exceed its powers and bypass the parliament.

“Both the decision to have a voluntary postal vote, and the authorisation of the relevant expenditure, are clearly matters for the parliament to decide and the Government is trying to be a law unto itself by going it alone”.

He said there was no need for a contentious postal vote because the parliament has the authority to amend the Marriage Act, as it did in 2004 when it made marriage “explicitly between a man and a woman”.

Mr Croome said he would soon commission research to gauge whether those seeking marriage equality wanted advocates to join the campaign for the “yes” case, or boycott the postal ballot.