History of same-sex marriage in Australia

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The history of same-sex marriage in Australia includes its express prohibition by the Howard government in 2004 and its eventual legalisation by the Parliament in December 2017. Although a same-sex marriage law was passed by the Australian Capital Territory in 2013, it was struck down by the High Court on the basis of inconsistency with federal law.[1] The Court's decision closed the possibility of concurrent state or territory laws that would allow same-sex marriage where federal law did not.[1] A law legalising same-sex marriage passed the Parliament on 7 December 2017 and received royal assent the following day.[2]

Between September 2004 and October 2017, there were 22 unsuccessful attempts in the Federal Parliament to legalise or recognise same-sex marriage under federal law.[3] Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supported same-sex marriage during his time in office when same-sex marriage was legalised by the Parliament.[4][5] The Turnbull government went to the 2016 federal election with a policy to put the issue of same-sex marriage to a plebiscite, and was narrowly re-elected, though the legislation to establish the plebiscite was rejected by the Australian Senate in November 2016 and again in August 2017.[6]

Consequently, the government conducted a voluntary postal survey between 12 September and 7 November 2017, ascertaining the views of Australians on legislating for same-sex marriage. The survey did not require parliamentary approval and despite being legally challenged, was upheld by the High Court. The government pledged to facilitate the passage of a private member's bill legalising same-sex marriage in the Parliament if a majority of respondents voted "Yes" in the survey. The results of the survey were announced on 15 November 2017; 61.6% of respondents voted for same-sex marriage.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Fact file: High Court decision on ACT same-sex marriage laws". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Same-sex marriage signed into law by Governor-General, first weddings to happen from January 9". ABC News. 8 December 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference chron was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Stephanie Anderson (6 March 2016). "Same-sex marriage: Federal Government to hold plebiscite by year's end if re-elected". ABC News.
  5. ^ "No change on Liberal same-sex marriage policy". Sky News. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  6. ^ Francis Keany (7 November 2016). "Same-sex marriage plebiscite bill blocked by Senate". ABC News.
  7. ^ Karp, Paul (15 November 2017). "Australia says yes to same-sex marriage in historic postal survey". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2017.