Mass wedding promotes vote

MELBOURNE A mass same-sex wedding ceremony has been held in Melbourne’s CBD as part of a rally in support of a ‘‘yes’’ vote in the upcoming marriage equality postal referendum.

Comedians, politicians and celebrities took part in the event yesterday. A march led by Dykes On Bikes was followed by speeches and the mass marriage ceremony on the steps of the state library, with Australian Idol winner Natalie Gauci performing the wedding song.

A last-minute surge has seen a record number of Australians enrolled to vote ahead of the postal survey.

The Australian Electoral Commission released figures it described as ‘‘extraordinary’’, showing that 90,000 new voters – mostly young people – had joined the roll since the survey was announced on August 8.

The development has delighted same-sex marriage advocates but alarmed nervous Coalition MPs, who believe the enlarged youth vote will come back to bite them at the next election.

A further 675,000 people had updated their electoral details, and 165,000 transactions were yet to be processed, the AEC said. In total, almost 1 million Australians had either enrolled for the first time or updated their details.

Once all the transactions are processed, the number of new voters should easily exceed 100,000. Electoral Commissioner Tim Rogers said he expected the total proportion of Australians on the roll, which was 95.3 per cent on July 31, to reach a ‘‘record high’’ once processing was completed.

The result is notable because it has only been 14 months since the last general election.

Same-sex marriage advocates said they were elated at the news, following a two-week recruitment drive to ensure young, progressive Australians were correctly enrolled to vote.

The ‘‘no’’ campaign also encouraged all Australians to enrol.

A Coalition for Marriage spokesman said: ‘‘We are looking forward to engaging with all registered voters on the consequences of redefining marriage for all Australians.’’ AAP, Fairfax