Australian vote on gay marriage will proceed after court dismisses challenge

Australians will be surveyed on their support for gay marriage from next week after the nation’s highest court on Thursday dismissed challenges to the government’s power to conduct the postal ballot without Senate permission.

Gay marriage could be legal in Australia by December if most Australians who take part in the ballot support the reform. But the lawmakers who could finally change the law within three weeks of the survey results becoming known would not be bound to accept the people’s will.

Gay rights advocates argued in an emergency hearing in the High Court that the government did not have the constitutional power to survey the public through a unique A$122 million (US$97 million) postal ballot. The seven judges dismissed both cases argued by separate groups of rights advocates.

The government had already gone to the expense of starting to print the ballot papers, which are to be posted to more than 16 million voters nationwide from Tuesday.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the ruling and urged all Australians to take part in the survey, which will be declared on November 15.

“Lucy and I will be voting yes and I will be encouraging others to vote yes, but ... above all, I encourage every Australian to have their say because ... I respect every Australian’s view on this matter,” Turnbull told Parliament, referring to his wife, Lucy Turnbull.