Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi has stepped up his campaign pushing for the government to delay looking at any changes to the marriage legislation.

Senator Bernardi argues that despite having just held a $120 million dollar national survey on the issue the government should not consider discussing the issue in parliament. Senator Bernardi argues that until the government sorts out concerns over dual citizenship – other less important issues should be pushed back.

Yesterday Senator Bernardi called for a delay in addressing marriage equality while speaking to Sky News, today he took his campaign to ABC Radio.

“It is much more pressing to deal with the composition of the parliament to establish that it is actually constitutionally allowed to exist in its current status,” Bernardi told ABC radio.

Following the closing of the survey yesterday, Bernardi said the exercise had been a positive experience for the nation.

“I hope that people will respect the result, notwithstanding we are going to have differences about the shape of any bill that goes forward … but nonetheless, it’s been a pretty positive exercise for the country.”

Yesterday the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that it estimates that 78.5 of eligible voters had returned their survey forms, representing 12.6 million of the 16 million eligible participants.  The latest count was taken on Friday last week, so the final figure is expected to be higher.

OIP Staff