Court says yes to vote in the post

AUSTRALIANS will get the chance to have their say on same-sex marriage after a High Court ruling yesterday that the Federal Government can spend $122 million of taxpayer money on a controversial postal survey.

Ballots with the question, “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” will be sent to households across the nation on September 12.

After the ruling, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Question Time: “Lucy and I will be voting Yes and I will be encouraging others to vote Yes.”

Labor’s Bill Shorten tweeted, “Let’s win this.”

Activist group GetUp said the government had been “sneaky” in circumnavigating Parliament but the vote could be “the biggest own goal the Liberal Party have ever seen”.

Lyle Shelton of Australian Christian Lobby, one of the main groups against samesex marriage, has said the vote will be a “referendum on freedoms and radical sex education in schools”.

If a majority of people vote in favour, a vote will then be held in parliament and the PM says he expects it will legalise same-sex marriage.

If Australians vote No, the parliamentary vote will not proceed.

Campaigns by Yes and No campaigns are now set to crank up, with TV, newspapers and the internet set to be flooded with ads from both sides.

Unlike voting, the postal survey is voluntary.

Forms need to be returned by early November but Yes campaigners have predicted 80% could be back by the end of next week.