Australian Marriage Equality (AME) has today said the Plebiscite (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill is not a fair proposal for the very people it affects and it doesn’t provide any detail about how the Marriage Act will change if the ‘Yes’ campaign won the plebiscite.
“We are yet to see any proposed changes to the Marriage Act, so how can we ask Australians to vote in a plebiscite without seeing the changes they are voting for,” said Co-Chair of Australian Marriage Equality said.
“The parliament should not support the government’s plebiscite bill,” Mr Greenwich added.
“Australian Marriage Equality have led the call and continue to advocate for no public funding to be allocated to the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns. We don’t believe that taxpayers should foot the bill for a negative campaign that attacks ordinary Australians and on issues unrelated to marriage.
“Any funding that is allocated for the proposed campaign should be used for support services for vulnerable members of the LGBTI community impacted by a national plebiscite.
“The government’s proposal also fails to provide any details about how they intend to support vulnerable members of the LGBTI community in the event of a plebiscite nor does it talk about what ‘truth in advertising’ rules would be applied to the national campaign.
“The proposed Bill is also not an even playing field for campaign donations. Supporters of the ‘No’ campaign have access to tax deductibility and concessions that the ‘Yes’ campaign does not.
“We ask that parliamentary supporters of marriage equality work together to find a fair pathway for this straightforward reform because we don’t deserve to wait any longer,” Mr Greenwich concluded.
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