Senate marriage inquiry count underway

Although the official final count is unknown, more than 20,000 submissions have been received by the Senate Inquiry into same-sex marriage.

The Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009, introduced by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young earlier this year, was referred to Senate Committee in July and accepted submissions up until August 28.

There seems to have been a flurry of last-minute submission writing. Southern Star reported at the end of July only five submissions had been collected opposing gay marriage and 1400 had been received in favour of repealing the current ban.

A Senate Committee spokeswoman told Southern Star on Monday around 23,000 submissions had been received, however, the Committee now has to go through them and check for duplicates which will most likey reduce the number.

The spokeswoman wouldn’t be drawn on which side received more submissions, saying it appeared “50/50” at this stage and the count would continue well into this week, and likely beyond.

Australian Marriage Equality estimate some 10,000 submission have been made for same-sex marriage.

The last inquiry into same-sex marriage attracted around 14,000 submissions, one of the highest submission numbers recorded for a parliamentary inquiry.

The Government is due to report on November 26.
Southern Star will update when more information is available.