With the High Court deciding to allow the postal plebiscite on marriage equality to go ahead, supporters in Byron Bay and Ballina are girding their loins for a final campaign ahead of the mail-out, which is scheduled to take place on September 12.
The North Coast coordinator for the YES Campaign, Asren Pugh, said ‘We know from previous campaigns like this that if someone doesn’t return their survey in the first 72 hours they are much less likely to return it at all.
‘The letters may get lost, covered in spilled coffee or just end up in the recycling,’ he said.
‘The YES campaign is asking people across the North Coast who support marriage equality to take an extra step over the next three weeks to get out the YES vote – to get our neighbours to return their surveys.
‘Working with GetUp, we have built sophisticated new tools that will allow absolutely anyone to make calls right from their own home, host their own phone calling party and doorknock their own neighbourhood.’
YES campaign meetings were held this week in Byron Bay and Ballina, with one scheduled for Ocean Shores on Sunday (September 10).
‘We will show people how to make calls from their own home, host a calling party and coordinate stalls and doorknocking,’ Mr Pugh said.
Sunday’s meeting is at Ocean Shores Community Centre, 55 Rajah Road, Ocean Shores, from midday.
Even if you can’t attend the meeting, anyone can sign up to host a phone calling party at http://www.yes.org.au.
For more information or questions please contact Asren Pugh at 0400 959617.
While I do support the push for marriage equality (even though I’ll have no use for it myself as I don’t see marriage as a relevant model for my relationships with other men), I do not support the way the government is going about it.
The plebiscite was dinosaur Abbott’s way of stalling the issue so that he didn’t have to deal with it while PM. Turnbull, while personally claiming to support equal marriage, is far too deeply indebted to the right wing of his party and so didn’t dare go for a direct parliamentary Bill, vote, and Act.
This watered-down pathetic excuse for a plebiscite (not even a real one; it is merely a voluntary opinion poll) is invalid. There is no sound reason the government couldn’t just legislate for equal marriage in the same way that it passes laws for far more important matters such as going to war; they don’t ask the populace’s opinion on that! All that would be required is for Turnbull to grow a pair and stand up to the troglodytes in his government.
As I don’t hold with “the end justifies the means”, I cannot in good conscience validate this “postal plebiscite” by participating in it.
That is exactly why the conservatives came up with this idea Gordon. They learnt from the Republican plebiscite that if the majority are opposed to you, find a away to divide that majority so your minority conservative view stays in place. Most Australians wanted a republic; we are still a monarchy. In this case they are dividing the majority we already know support gay marriage by putting up a divisive and unpopular postal vote, and are backing it up with all sorts of irrelevant scaremongering. This they hope will divide us into those who vote yes and those who either like yourself not unreasonably hate this process and will not vote, along with the many mainly young people who will not vote because of enrollment or postal issues. I urge those who share my disgust with this process to stay their anger and vote “yes”. The conservatives are out in force and if we do not get enough “Yes” votes, it will be very hard for Labor and the Greens to change the law.
Sunday from 12noon is also the Lismore Yes for Equality campaign meeting.
Like many people I have considered boycotting this farce of a survey. But the truth is if the survey returned a No vote it would be one of the most horrible outcomes for Australia and one that would greatly harm the people of the LGBTI community. Can you imagine what a No result would do, how it would embolden the rising alt-right, and more importantly the message it would send to the LGBTI people of Australia?
I am so offended by the postal vote, and the fact that I am been called to judge peoples lifestyles when I have no right to do so. I am so dismayed by the so-called leaders of this nation and the way a small conservative faction has gotten so powerful and divisive. As much as I want to have no truck with this farcical non-binding pile of bollocks, there is just too much at stake. I will send my Yes vote in, because I have to. It may go against my personal-politics to do so, but perhaps this is a time to put politics aside.
I hope that those who feel like I do will do the same.
There are other battles to fight. We need to be very conscious that there is a human toll to all of this. The more ambiguous the outcome, the more those bastards will water down the legislation. Think of this as an opportunity to vote for inclusion and send the message that Australia is not as broken as its “masters”.
Well said Alistair – either we vote yes or our LGBTI friends remain second class Australians.