Members of the House of Representatives will be provided with an afternoon on August the 17th, 2011, to report back to the Parliament on the marriage equality consultations conducted in their electorates (details here).
Many senior MPs have already released the results of their consultations, with Federal Ministers such as Tanya Plibersek and former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull reporting high levels of community support for marriage equality.
Alex Greenwich, Australian Marriage Equality’s National Convener, has welcomed the move:
“This will be an unique occasion for MPs to share the heart-felt conversations that they have had with their electorates”
Mr Greenwich hopes the reports would reflect the quality and quanity of support for marriage equality:
“Every poll tells us that a majority of Australians support marriage equality, and we also hope that MPs also share the with the parliament the personal stories that many mums, dads, couples and community leaders have told their local members in support of equality”
In the meantime, supporters of marriage equality are being urged to contact their local member and express their views on the topic before this date via a webform established by Australian Marriage Equality. Already 120,000 emails sent to MPs in support of marriage equality via this webform.
The news of this special sitting of parliament comes the same day as a new fact sheet on the health benefits of marriage equality was released, The fact sheet can be found here .
For more information contact Alex Greenwich on 0421 316 335.