Same-sex marriage has now been defeated in the Federal Parliament in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The numbers in the Senate were conclusive (98-42), while the Senate vote, as tends to be the case on such morality matters, was much closer (41-26).

The votes took place under conscience vote provisions for Labor while the opposition voted in unison against the bill.

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John Warhurst is an emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University and Deputy Chair of the Australian Republican Movement.