Of 12.7 million Australians who took part in the government survey, 61.6 percent voted yes and 38.4 percent voted no, officials announced on Wednesday morning, with 79.5 percent of voting-age Australians sending back their postal ballots.
The Coalition for Marriage has vowed to continue defending parents’ rights, and fighting for freedom of speech and freedom of belief following today’s result of the postal survey.
“While we are naturally disappointed in today’s result, we accept and respect the decision of the Australian people,” Coalition for Marriage spokesman, Lyle Shelton said today.
“We will now do what we can to guard against restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of religion, to defend parents’ rights, and to protect Australian kids from being exposed to radical LGBTIQ sex and gender education in the classrooms.
“In their push for same-sex marriage, the ‘yes’ campaign assured Australians that a change in the law would have no consequences for them; it is now time for them to make good on that promise and ensure that proper protections for parental rights, freedom of speech and belief are in place.
“We will work with our coalition partners, with state and federal parliaments and others of good will to minimise the impact on all Australians.
“We promised our supporters that no matter the result, we would continue to work to defend Australian families, and we intend to keep that promise.
“We are very grateful for the contribution of the millions of Australians who supported our campaign. In the short space of three months, we had thousands of volunteers join us, many of them first time campaigners; we had tens of thousands of Australians donate to our campaign because they believed in what we were doing; and we had many, many more sign up to support us in other ways.
“Their efforts have not been wasted. Thanks to them, millions of Australians spoke up to defend freedoms and will not allow them to be taken away. Those who seek to deceive parents or deny them information about what their kids learn in school will find themselves called to account by millions of Australian mums and dads who now know what is at stake. Those who seek to place restrictions on freedom of speech or freedom of belief will face tough opposition from millions of Australians who understand how a change in law is used to silence those who disagree. Those who seek to push these ideologies through our schools and institutions will not get away with it so easily.
“This new level of awareness could not have been achieved without our supporters, our staff and our volunteers. They have achieved much in this campaign, even in the face of intimidation, threats and abuse, and we are grateful to them.”
