page_title: Turnbull Government
section_title: Same-sex marriage plebiscite
hierarchical_section_title: Turnbull Government / Second term of government 2016–2018 / Same-sex marriage plebiscite
caption_attribution_description: English: A sample image of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey response form
context_page_description: The Turnbull Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, from 2015 to 2018. It succeeded the Abbott Government, which brought the Coalition to power at the 2013 Australian federal election. The Government consisted of members of Australia's Liberal-Nationals Coalition. Turnbull took office by challenging his leader, Tony Abbott, in an internal leadership ballot. Warren Truss, the leader of the Nationals, served as Deputy Prime Minister until he retired in 2016 and was replaced by Barnaby Joyce. Joyce resigned in February 2018 and the Nationals' new leader Michael McCormack became Deputy Prime Minister. The Turnbull Government concluded with Turnbull's resignation ahead of internal leadership ballot which saw him succeeded as Prime Minister by Scott Morrison and the Morrison Government.
  In mounting his 2015 public challenge for the leadership, Turnbull cited extended poor polling in Newspoll by the Abbott Government and said Australia needed a new style of "economic leadership". Turnbull appointed Morrison as Treasurer in an expanded ministry, promoting several key supporters.
context_section_description: The Abbott Government had promised to hold a national vote to settle the question of whether marriage should continue to be defined by Australian law as being for male-female partnerships. Turnbull took the policy of holding a compulsory-attended plebiscite on the issue to the 2016 federal election. Following the election, the Coalition put the proposal to Parliament, but it was blocked by Labor and the Greens in the Senate in a vote of 7 November 2016. In August 2017, following an attempt by five Liberal Party MPs to change party policy and have a free vote in the parliament on same-sex marriage legislation, the government announced it would move for a voluntary postal plebiscite to be held later that year. This would only occur in the event the government's compulsory plebiscite legislation was again rejected by the Senate. That occurred on 9 August 2017, when a government-initiated motion in the Senate to debate the Plebiscite (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill 2016 was tied at 31-31; resulting in the motion being negatived.
  Following the result in the Senate, the government directed the Australian Statistician to begin the process of collecting statistical information on a voluntary basis, from all Australians on the electoral roll, as to their views on same sex marriage. The government contended that this proposal did not require legislative approval from the parliament, arguing that the provisions of the Appropriations Act and the law governing the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) enabled it to use the ABS for such a purpose. The government announced the ABS would be assisted by having staff seconded from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), the organisation responsible for the elections in Australia and managing the electoral roll.
  Coalition MPs were permitted to campaign for either side in the debate, while Labor MPs were bound to support their Party's policy supporting change. 79.5% of voters participated in the survey, and 61.6 per cent of respondents voted Yes, with 38.4 per cent against. Out of 150 Federal Electoral Divisions, 133 recorded a majority Yes response, with 17 divisions voting No–mostly working class and migrant suburbs in Sydney electorates. The Turnbull Government's same sex marriage legislation then passed the Senate on 29 November 2017, and same-sex couples became entitled to marry under Australian law.
caption: Sample survey form
exif: {}