The Outsiders

WHAT DO THE TINY MINORITY WHO BLOCK MARRIAGE EQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA REALLY THINK?

FROM THE EDITOR / Andrew Creagh

The plebiscite on marriage equality in Australia is dead. Most agree this is a good thing but it does leave the future of gay marriage here hanging. Can’t we now just have a free vote? No, because there are still enough MPs in the LNP government who oppose it.

We know who these MPs are; they’re up-front about their opposition to equality, presumably because it’s what they believe their electorates want. If so, they’re probably wrong. A study by the University Of Melbourne reveals that only one electorate in the whole of Australia would vote decisively against marriage equality. It’s Maranoa in outback Queensland, represented by the Coalition’s David Littleproud.

The study also found that opposition to marriage equality only averaged one-third of voters across all electorates, which suggests that the plebiscite result should have easily been in our favour. These figures clearly indicate that the likes of Cory Bernardi, Eric Abetz and George Christianson are not representing the wishes of their wider electorates.