page_title: Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey
section_title: Advertising and media
hierarchical_section_title: Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey / Activities during the campaign / Advertising and media
caption_attribution_description: English: A wall with the signage "Yes" painted in the colours of the LGBT flag, designed to demonstrate the support for Australia's Marriage Equality survey from 2017.
context_page_description: The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in elections and referendums, which is compulsory in Australia, responding to the survey was voluntary.
  A survey form, instructions, and a reply-paid envelope were mailed out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to every person on the federal electoral roll, asking the question "Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?" The ABS outlined processes to ensure eligible Australians lacking access to post could participate.
  The survey returned 7,817,247 "Yes" responses and 4,873,987 "No" responses. An additional 36,686 responses were unclear and the total turnout was 12,727,920.
  Prior to the survey, the Liberal–National Coalition government had pledged to facilitate a private member's bill to legalise same-sex marriage in the Parliament in the event of a "Yes" outcome. This allowed parliamentary debate and a vote eventually leading to the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
context_section_description: Advertising by both sides was extensive for much of the survey period. The first television ad for the "No" campaign, revealed shortly after the campaign began, featured three women and focused on the Safe Schools education program. The "Yes" campaign promptly aired a rebuttal by Dr. Kerryn Phelps. A "No" supporter funded the skywritten message "Vote No" over Sydney in September, which was defended by Turnbull as an expression of free speech.
  Subsequent "Yes" ads focused heavily on a concerted "get out the vote" effort, and featured high-profile figures such as Ian Thorpe and others posting their surveys, as well as a themed ad screened during the finale of popular television show The Bachelor. The "Yes" campaign were also responsible for a widespread SMS message to many Australian mobile phones which lead to some complaints over how people's numbers were obtained, however the campaign advised the numbers were generated through random dialling technology previously used in elections.
  Both of the "No" campaign's next most prominent advertisements concentrated mostly on the notion of gender theory in school curriculum, one such ad focusing on the book The Gender Fairy and featuring two of the mothers from the original advertisement. The other advertisement included archive footage of one of the founders of the Safe Schools program and included material alleged to have been available for viewing by year seven students which was subsequently deemed inappropriate for unrestricted viewing by the Australian Commercial Television Code of Practice.  As of mid-September, prominent "No" campaigner Lyle Shelton was mentioned across news outlets more times than the leading three "Yes" campaigners, Alex Greenwich, Tiernan Brady and Sally Rugg, combined.
  Legislation in effect for the duration of the survey made it illegal to vilify, intimidate, threaten or harm "on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status or religion", with a fine of up to $12,600 for breaches. Furthermore, all campaign material was required to be properly authorised. By 26 September, marketing services group Ebiquity estimated that the lead "No" group (Coalition for Marriage) had spent about $3,975,872 on advertising, a figure higher than their estimate for the two lead "Yes" groups (Australian Marriage Equality and the Equality Campaign), about $2,920,740. Two donations of note were made in the course of the survey; $1 million was personally donated by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to the "Yes" campaign, and $1 million was donated by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney to the "No" campaign. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in November that the "No" campaign had 20,000 donors who donated around $6 million to the campaign.
  At the 2017 NRL Grand Final, American rapper Macklemore was booked to perform several songs, including "Same Love". The song topped the Australian charts in 2013, and was regarded as an anthem for same-sex marriage advocates during the campaign in Macklemore's home state of Washington. In the days leading up to the grand final, the single returned to the top of the Australian iTunes charts. Several prominent conservative politicians voiced strong opposition to the scheduled performance of "Same Love", given its high-profile support for the "Yes" campaign during the voting period of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. Macklemore acknowledged the controversy several days before the final, but vowed to "go harder" as a result.
  A nationwide study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual mental health found that increased exposure to negative, anti-LGBT media messages during the postal survey was related to increased levels of depressions, anxiety, and stress.
caption: A shop wall in Redfern, New South Wales, with the signage "Yes" painted in the colours of the LGBT flag, designed to demonstrate the support for the survey.
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