Same-sex marriage: Make sure you’re enrolled to vote

The Australian Government has announced there will be a postal vote on whether Australia should alter the Marriage Act to include same-sex marriage. 

You must be enrolled to vote by Thursday 24 August to ensure you receive a ballot paper, due to be sent out Tuesday 12 September.

Enrolled voters will be asked a single question on the ballot, which will include a return paid envelope as well as instructions on how to complete their vote.

To participate in the postal vote, the form will need to be returned by Tuesday 7 November. 

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has requested the Australian electorate think carefully about the impact same-sex marriage will have on the future of Australian families. 

It writes:

The Church views marriage as a unique relationship between a woman and a man. 

Marriage is also a fundamental institution for all societies because of its importance in uniting spouses as potential parents and in providing for the upbringing of their children. It has therefore been understood as the union of a man and a woman in all cultures and religions until very recent times and is still so defined in international law and the law of most nations.

The recognition that marriage is between a man and a woman is not the assertion of bigotry, religious dogma or irrational tradition, but recognition of human ecology. It does not preclude persons of the same sex entering into other legal relationships.

To insist that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman is not a criticism of other kinds of relationships. By recognising this particular type of relationship our community and its marriage laws do not unjustly discriminate against other relationships: rather, our community and its laws recognise the essential connections between male-female bonding and child-bearing, and between children and their natural parents. The Commonwealth has an interest in ensuring that children have the benefit of those connections.

Redefining marriage would deliberately create motherless or fatherless families, which would deprive children of at least one of their biological parents, and would put the preferences or interests of adults before the right and interests of children.

For more information, go to the ACBC website.

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