With the Australian Labor Party National Conference being held this weekend, marriage equality groups have sent Labor Party delegates a list of electorates that are likely to swing to Labor should marriage equality be supported.
The ALP National Conference is the party’s highest decision-making forum on Labor policy and plays an important role in defining the federal caucus’ future direction- including their stance on same-sex unions.
Based on polls conducted by Galaxy Research, if they support marriage equality for same-sex couples, Labor will gain 7.3 per cent more votes.
The list was sent to delegates in response to the Australian Christian Lobby’s claims that Labor will lose votes if same-sex marriage is supported.
Australian Marriage Equality Convener, Alex Greenwich has said the ACL’s list is unreliable and ‘shonky’.
‘We know for a fact that Labor will pick up Green voters, particularly young ones, if it supports marriage equality,’ Greenwich said.
‘Marriage equality is clearly an electoral winner for Labor.
‘When we look at the swing electorate-by-electorate we see that Labor can expect to tighten its hold on a large number of seats, and potentially win seats like Melbourne, Wentworth and Adelaide.
‘It’s fair to assume most people who sign Christian lobby petitions have no intention of ever voting Labor no matter what its stance on marriage equality may be,’ he said.
According to the ABC, gay Labor politician Andrew Barr (pictured) said the party had had a ‘gutful of miserable compromises’ on the issue and that it was time to take a stand.
‘I’m very confident that the Labor Party platform will change on Saturday,’ he said.
Barr told the ABC the time has come for change.
‘There’s still some discussion underway in relation to the issue of the conscience vote. We’re working hard on that issue as well to ensure that questions of equality don’t become the subject of conscience within the Labor Party,’ Barr said.
The 46th ALP National Conference starts tomorrow in Sydney.
Vanessa Manivannen
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