Sausage sizzle shores up student support

Tasmanian marriage equality campaigners attracted some 500 students to a free BBQ yesterday to hear more about the Upper House candidates who support the issue at this weekend’s elections.

Students lived up to their cash-strapped reputations with queues for the free BBQ stretching for 50 metres at the University of Tasmania.

It was hosted the university’s QSoc members who handed out information about which candidates supported marriage equality for the three seats up for election this week.

Organisers handed out information about the election and gathered petition signatures, while the three Nelson candidates who support marriage equality – independent Helen Richardson, the Greens’ Tom Baxter, and independent liberal Hans Willink – informed students of their stance.

“According to last year’s EMRS poll over 90 per cent of young Tasmanians support marriage equality and the popularity of today’s BBQ confirmed this,” QSoc secretary Jackson Tegg said.

“We distributed leaflets, gathered petition signatures and sold tshirts, all to raise awareness among students that their vote on Saturday can help achieve marriage equality in Tasmania.”

The University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay campus is in the Upper House electorate of Nelson, which together with Pembroke and Montogomery go to the polls on Saturday.

The Tasmanian same-sex marriage bill was defeated by two votes in the Upper House last September.

The sitting members in Nelson, Pembroke and Montgomery were against the bill.

Almost all the challenging candidates in Saturday’s election support marriage equality.