As the same sex marriage plebiscite approaches and draws an increasing amount of criticism, a study by the University of Melbourne has found that only ONE electorate opposes marriage equality. In the entire country, out of all 23 million of us, the electorate of Maranoa located in rural Queensland, made up of no more than 100,000 people, is opposed.
While there may be many more begrudging voters spread throughout the rest of Australia, only one would oppose the passing of a bill allowing marriage equality. While this would mean a plebiscite would pass by a landslide, it also totally invalidates the need for one altogether.
Taking their information from Vote Compass, the ABC’s online tool to help voters decide where their allegiances lay in the federal election from earlier this year. Shaun Ratclif, one of the researchers involved in the study, stated that:
“I don’t think anything’s inevitable but suspect on this particular issue we’re going to see same-sex marriage legalised. It’s just a matter of when.”
Further information showed that the majority of negative voters were from rural electorates, mostly located in Queensland. They were also mostly coalition held areas, with the top ten being:
Maranoa, QLD (LNP, David Littleproud)
Groom, QLD (LNP, John McVeigh)
Flynn, QLD (LNP, Ken O’Dowd)
Hinkler, QLD (LNP, Keith Pitt)
New England, NSW (Nationals, Barnaby Joyce)
Kennedy, QLD (Katter’s Australian Party, Bob Katter)
Grey, SA (Liberal, Rowan Ramsey)
Barker, SA (Liberal, Tony Pasin)
Parkes, NSW (Nationals, Mark Coulton)
Braddon, TAS (Labor, Justine Keay)
Alternatively, the electorates most supportive of same sex marriage were from Victoria. With Sydney topping the list (WOO) the top ten were:
Sydney, NSW (Labor, Tanya Plibersek)
Melbourne, VIC (Greens, Adam Bandt)
Grayndler, NSW (Labor, Anthony Albanese)
Wentworth, NSW (Liberal, Malcolm Turnbull)
Melbourne Ports, VIC (Labor, Michael Danby)
Wills, VIC (Labor, Peter Khalil)
Gellibrand, VIC (Labor, Tim Watts)
Batman, VIC (Labor, David Feeney)
Higgins, VIC (Liberal, Kelly O’Dwyer)
Brisbane, QLD (Liberal, Trevor Evans)
While the majority of voters may favour the bill passing, there remains the potential for undecided swing voters to follow suit on a NO decision. Despite this, it still remains likely that the majority of us are going to tick YES.
Source: Pedestrian.tv
Banner Image Source: StarObserver