Same-sex marriage postal vote ‘sneaky’, advocates say

ADVOCATES have called the idea of holding a national plebiscite on same-sex marriage by postal vote ‘sneaky’, as it would not need to pass the parliament.

According to a report by The Daily Telegraph a handful of conservative Liberal MPs are pushing the idea of holding a same-sex marriage plebiscite via postal vote.

This would see the Australian Electoral Commission send out postal ballots to Australians who could voluntarily fill them in if they wished.

The option wouldn’t require legislation change and would bypass the decision by Labor and the Greens to end the plebiscite.

In an interview with Sky News, Australian Marriage Equality’s Alex Greenwich said the proposal was a ‘desperate ploy’, and would be ‘sneaky’ of the government to attempt to bypass the expected opposition from the Greens, Labor, and some Senate crossbenchers.

“It would be seen as a pretty sneaky and underhanded way to do it, I mean, bypassing the parliament,” he said.

“This matter was prosecuted by the government, it was prosecuted by Malcolm Turnbull very strongly.

“In politics you win some you lose some, the plebiscite was voted down by the Senate, those numbers are not changing.”

Greenwich added that Australian voters want the parliament to have a vote on it and for the marriage equality to finally be legislated.

“Let’s unpack this a bit further, this is a voluntary postal vote process, which is still going to require a vote in parliament,” he said.

“Let’s save the taxpayers the money, let’s save the government the distraction of three to six months, and let’s just get on with it and get the parliament to do its job.”