Crusade to win regional support

AN IRISH marriage equality campaigner believes support for the “yes” campaign is strong in regional areas like Cairns.

Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady was in Cairns this week to thank campaigners.

Today is the last day surveys can be posted so that they arrive in time to be counted before the November 7 deadline.

On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that about 12 million survey forms had been returned, with an estimated four million still to be returned.

Mr Brady felt confident Australians would return a majority yes vote.

“The turnout is just too good for it not to reflect what people have been saying for the last 10 years,” he said.

“There is something about smaller communities and regional communities which makes them vote yes.

“There is a real sense of loyalty to people in their community.

“This is a country with a deep sense of fairness. The last thing we want is for people to change their values, we want them to confirm them.”

But Coalition for Marriage spokeswoman Monica Doumit said the group had heard from millions of Australians who expressed concern for the consequences of same-sex marriage and will be voting “no” in the marriage postal survey.

“In Far North Queensland, we have volunteers travelling to remote indigenous communities to encourage them to have their say,” she said.

“Many of these communities have a deep cultural connection with the family and have expressed a very strong … no to same-sex marriage.”