Voters in Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah have rejected his position on marriage equality with only one in four voters within the ex-Prime Minister’s electorate supporting his stance.
Seventy five per cent of voters who live in Warringah and returned their survey forms voted in favour of allowing same sex couples to wed.
Nationally Warringah was one of the most supportive seats for marriage equality, registering the tenth highest level of support.
Abbott responded to today’s clear win for the YES campaign saying parliament must respect the result.
“The people have spoken and, of course, the parliament should respect the result.” Abbott said on his Facebook page.
The former PM, who first introduced the idea of holding a plebiscite on the issue, thanked the millions of people who voted ‘No’ in the survey and said the next step was to make sure their were adequate protections in the legislation for those hold a contrary belief.
“I look forward to a parliamentary process that improves on the Dean Smith bill to implement same sex marriage with freedom of conscience for all, not just the churches.”
“So far, this process has been a credit to us as a nation and now needs to be completed in a way that keeps us the best country in the world.” Abbott said.
When Abbott delivered a speech to the US group Alliance Defending Freedom he proclaimed that a ‘No’ vote of 40% or more would be a “moral victory”. Today’s result did not deliver that arbitrary goal on either a national or local level.
Abbott was not alone in being a vocal no campaigner representing a seat that was clearly supportive of change.
In Kevin Andrews’ seat of Menzies 57 per cent of people selected ‘Yes’ on their survey forms. Liberal MP Craig Kelly’s seat of Hughes recorded a 58% per cent ‘Yes’ result, George Christensen’s Queensland seat of Dawson recorded a 55.1 per cent ‘Yes’ result, while Treasurer Scott Morrison’s seat of Cook showed a 55% vote in favour of marriage equality.
Even the rural seat of New England, which former National’s leader Barnaby Joyce hopes to represent after a by-election, voted in support of marriage equality. Fifty two and a half per cent of voters showed support for the marriage laws being changed.
Correspondingly several Labor members in outer suburban seats in Sydney represent seats that are clearly opposed to marriage equality. Prominent supporters of change including Jason Clare, Tony Burke and Chris Bowen represent seats that delivered a ‘No’ result.
OIP Staff
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