Australian Leaders Plan Vote on Same-Sex Marriage, One Way or Another<br />Australian Broadcasting Corporation said that I’ve said for many years that I want marriage equality in Australia, and I’ve campaigned for it,<br />Butler said that The problem is there is a minority of members of Parliament who nonetheless hold a majority of the influence<br />in the executive government who are preventing the executive government from agreeing to allowing the Parliament to vote.<br />8, 2017<br />SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s governing Liberal Party met for hours behind closed doors on Tuesday to debate same-sex marriage, twisting itself in knots<br />and ending up with a two-step approach: If the Senate does not open the polls for a compulsory national vote, party officials said, then Australians will be invited to cast voluntary ballots on the issue by mail as early as September.<br />Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking at a news conference after the discussions, said<br />that holding a postal vote if the Senate rejected an in-person one would give people the opportunity to "have their say," though neither vote would be legally binding.<br />" Mr. Goss said. that That will be frustrating for advocates of marriage equality because it is absolutely clear in Australian law<br />that Parliament could make this change today or this week if it wanted to,<br />If that vote does proceed, and Australians decide yes by mail, a parliamentary vote on same-sex<br />marriage could happen before the end of the year — but only if the party in power agrees to it.<br />"There are no constitutional or legal reasons to hold this nationwide vote whatsoever." Several Liberal Party lawmakers have expressed exasperation<br />with the handful of colleagues, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who have resisted a simple vote in Parliament.
