Australian activists launch legal action to stop postal vote on same-sex marriage

Advocates of same-sex marriage on Tuesday initiated legal action against a controversial plan by the Australian government calling for a postal vote on the matter.

The government described same-sex marriage as divisive and harmful despite polls indicating popular support for marriage equality in Australia. However, a decade old standoff and political debate over the best way to decide on the issue find no respite.   

After the Senate, the upper house of the Australian parliament, rejected plans for a national plebiscite on the matter involving 15 million people in 2016, the government said in August this year that a voluntary postal ballot would be held.

Advocates of same-sex marriage have, however, opposed both options arguing that a national vote would prove to be expensive and also subject gay people and their families to hate speech, AFP reported.  They are in favour of a free parliamentary vote where MPs are not restricted by their party policy.

Anna Brown, a member of the Human Rights Centre which is representing the advocacy group Australian Marriage Equality and Greens Senator Janet Rice in the legal action, expressed confidence that the Melbourne court would rule the vote as invalid.

"The postal plebiscite is unnecessary and is already proving divisive and harmful. LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) groups strongly oppose the plebiscite and so do we. Telling one group of people that their rights have to be decided by a public vote sends a terrible message," Brown was quoted by AFP as saying.

The court is also hearing another legal challenge led by  Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and Melbourne mother Felicity Marlowe. Opponents have claimed that the survey does not fall under the powers of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which has been hired to conduct the poll.

Those opposing the poll have also said that Canberra exceeded its executive authority by allocating Aus$122 million to conduct the poll without the approval of the Parliament. The government has argued that it can authorise using the cash under laws that permit it to give a green signal to "urgent" and "unforeseen" spending, AFP reported.

Adding that she suffered "vile hate and abuse" since the postal survey was announced, Marlowe said: "Our ability to nurture and love and care for our children has been questioned already on social media, on posters, on flyers, on advertisements in the newspapers." Marlowe is a lesbian mother of three children.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a supporter of same-sex marriage. But he has been engaged in a battle with members of his own Liberal party, who are against the legalisation of such unions.

Ballot papers are supposed to be sent out next week. If the ballot goes ahead and majority of the Australians vote 'Yes', the government will hold a free vote in Parliament on the issue. MPs then would not be restricted by party policy or the results of the ballot.

No parliamentary vote will be held if the majority of the Australians vote 'No'.