Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has complained that both the YES and NO campaigns are too noisy and suggested that they should just be quiet and let Australians make their own decision about the issue of marriage.

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Speaking on ABC radio this morning Joyce said advocates were harming their causes by continually talking about it, the eputy PM said Australians had already made up their minds on the issue.

“They’ve up their mind, they’ve got it worked out, they’re going to send their ballot back,” Joyce told ABC radio this morning.

“Sometimes I believe on both sides the advocacy is doing more to harm them than to help.”

The Nationals leader is opposed to marriage equality and has previously raised his concern that allowing same-sex couples to wed could affect the nation’s agricultural trade.

“I just don’t want people standing on the corner yelling at me, telling me if I don’t agree with them then I’m somehow less than human,” he said. “Get out of my face.”

Joyce’s comments come as the campaign shows the clear divisions with the coalition over the issue. Yesterday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appeared at a function organised by Liberal and Nationals supporters who want to see the marriage laws changed.

OIP Staff