Australian polls shows gay marriage support weakening as postal survey fraud, theft concerns surface

Support for legalising gay marriage in Australia has weakened just as a national postal ballot has asked voters where they stand on the contentious issue, the new opinion poll shows. The government said on Monday it had sent the survey ballots to all of Australia’s 16 million voters asking whether the nation should lift its prohibition on same-sex marriage. The results of the survey, which started on September 12, will be announced on November 15. A poll by Sydney-based market researcher Galaxy Research published in The Australian newspaper found support for gay marriage had slipped in five weeks from 63 to 57 per cent. Opposition had grown from 30 to 34 per cent. Telephone poll claims same-sex marriage may lead to ‘radical gay education’ in Australian schools This is absolutely corrupting the process Warren Snowdon The survey of 1,695 voters was taken from Thursday to Sunday. It had a 2.4 percentage point margin of error. If most of the balloting responses favour same-sex marriage, Parliament will vote within a month on legislation to lift the ban. But some lawmakers have vowed to vote down marriage equality regardless of popular opinion. If most of the mailed responses oppose same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates fear that marriage equality could be off the political agenda for years. A close result will amplify questions about how accurately the postal ballot reflects popular opinion. Ireland and Australia are the only countries to put the question of gay marriage to the general population. Market researchers argue that an opinion poll could more accurately gauge Australians’ attitudes at a fraction of the A$122 million Australian dollar (US$97 million) price tag of the postal ballot. Reports have emerged of someone marking others’ ballots with “no”, stolen ballots being dumped and people attempting to auction their ballots on websites. There are also concerns that shining a flashlight through the return-envelopes can reveal the vote inside, meaning postmen could potentially dispose of ballots they disagree with. Opposition lawmaker Warren Snowdon said someone picked up a bag of mail in the rural Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya in his Northern Territory electoral division last week and filled out other people’s ballots. In remote communities, letters are not delivered to homes but are collected from a mail centre. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull condemns alleged headbutt on Tony Abbott as vote on gay marriage looms Snowdon said a “reputable person” had witnessed the potentially illegal tampering with others’ mail, but did not name that witness. People can fill out others’ ballots, but only if authorised by the addressee. “It’s not peculiar, I don’t think, to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. I think there is a potential for this to happen across the board,” Snowdon said. “This is absolutely corrupting the process.” The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which is conducting the postal survey, said it had investigated the Gunbalanya allegation and found no evidence of fraud. The bureau released no details of what its investigation had found. “The ABS warns Australians theft or tampering with mail is a criminal offence and carries serious penalties,” the bureau said. Reports of piles of ballot papers being found in streets of the cities of Canberra and Melbourne have been put down to theft from postboxes. Australians who have not received their ballots by Monday can apply for replacements. Each ballot has a unique bar code – mailing a replacement ballot cancels the missing original. Most of the opinion poll published on Monday was conducted after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a vocal “no” vote advocate, said he was headbutted by a “yes” campaigner. Both sides of the debate condemned the violence that left Abbott with a swollen lip and his alleged assailant with an assault charge.

Australian polls shows gay marriage support weakening as postal survey fraud, theft concerns surface

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Latest measure of public opinion showed those in favour of same-sex unions had slipped in five weeks from 63 to 57 per cent

Latest measure of public opinion showed those in favour of same-sex unions had slipped in five weeks from 63 to 57 per cent