Australia to hold vote in November on gay marriage

Australia will vote in November on whether to allow same- sexmarriage, settling a long- stalled debate by the end of this year, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday.

The conservative government decided on Monday to hold a non- compulsory postal vote on whether to allow samesex couples to marry, if a second attempt to win parliamentary support for a compulsory national ballot fails.

If, as expected, the government does not win support for a compulsory ballot, which it would hold on November 25, then it will send out postal ballots in September, seeking an outcome by November 15, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said.

Same- sex marriage is supported by 61 percent of Australians, a 2016 Gallup opinion poll showed, but the issue has fractured the government and damaged Turnbull’s standing.

If the population votes in favor of gay marriage, then the government plans to introduce legislation in the final two weeks of parliament’s sitting this year to carry that out.

Same sex- marriage advocates, who would prefer a conscience vote on the issue in parliament, have threatened to launch a court challenge against using a postal vote.

But Cormann, in his role as finance minister, said he has the power to ask the Australian Bureau of Statistics to run a “survey” of the population’s view on allowing gay marriage, and under the constitution the government could make laws based on those statistics.