Senators vote down contentious plebiscite bill

THE Australian Senate has voted down the Plebiscite (Same Sex Marriage) Bill, 33-29, after spending most of Monday debating it.

Senators from Labor, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, as well as Derryn Hinch, all voted against the bill.

Nineteen senators spent several hours debating the bill at its second reading after it passed the Lower House late last month.

Considered by many supporters of same-sex marriage to be a stalling tactic when it was introduced by the Abbott government in 2015, the bill was described by the government as the only viable path to same-sex marriage under their leadership.

The LGBTI community mobilised against the bill, arguing that putting their rights to a vote would leave its most vulnerable members open to bigotry and damaging rhetoric in the name of debate.

The community was represented in the chamber by Alex Greenwich, and in the public gallery during the vote by Rodney Croome, PFLAG’s Shelley Argent, Just Equal’s Ivan Hinton-Teoh, and members of Rainbow Families Victoria.