GROOM NARROWLY VOTES ‘NO’ ON SSM, BUT NATIONALLY . . .
A SLIM majority of voters in the federal electorate of Groom, which takes in Toowoomba, voted “No’’ on the same-sex marriage survey postal vote.
Groom was one of only three federal seats in Queensland in which a majority voted against same-sex marriage.
The majority of voters in Maranoa and Kennedy also voted “No”.
Across the country, only 17 seats voted against the same-sex marriage reforms.
Nationally 61.6% of respondents voted “Yes”.
A total of 50.8 per cent of respondents in Groom (41,915) voted “No”, while 49.2% (40,536) voted “Yes”.
In total, 82,451 people in Groom voted in the survey.
That figure reflects an 80% participation rate of Groom’s 103,430 eligible voters.
JOHN McVeigh will take the narrow “No’’ vote margin to parliament when voting on the same-sex marriage legislation.
The Groom MP said he would consider the electorate’s vote which was revealed to reject changing marriage laws.
Of the 80 per cent of the electorate who voted, 50.8 per cent supported the “No’’ campaign.
It is aligned with the Liberal MP’s personal views on marriage.
“The result is a very slim 50.8 per cent majority voting ‘No’ on the question of same-sex marriage, which is in contrast to the emphatic 61.6 per cent ‘Yes’ result at the national level,” he said.
“For months I have been meeting and contacting constituents who have deeply-held personal convictions either way and I believe it is now more important than ever that differing views continue to be respected.”
Groom was one of three federal electorates in the state to reject changing marriage laws.
Maranoa, which takes in the Western Downs, was revealed to be the most conservative, followed by the northern electorate of Kennedy.
“The Groom result is narrow and I have the elected responsibility of representing that reality in the pending parliamentary debate,” Mr McVeigh said.
He said he would “very carefully” consider all marriage legislation to be tabled in parliament.