Australia votes in favour of legalising same-sex marriage

Following in the footsteps of the Irish, the Australian public have voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

However, unlike the Irish marriage referendum, this vote was not a legally binding one, but it is the strongest indication on the issue of what the people of the country want from their government. There was a 79.5% turnout for the vote, with 7,817,247 of the ballots cast saying yes, and 4,873,987 opposed. The yes vote won in all six of the Australian states.

YES!!! 61.6% pic.twitter.com/vv0yxCYNee

— Tiernan Brady (@Tiernanbrady) November 14, 2017

The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had some words to say following the announcement of the vote: "Australians have voted yes for fairness, they have voted yes for commitment, they have voted yes for love. Now it's up to us here in the Parliament of Australia to get on with it, to get on with the job the people have asked us to do and get it done this year, before Christmas." "That must be our commitment. I know that many people - a minority obviously - voted no. But we are a fair nation - there's nothing more Australian than a fair go, than equality, than mutual respect." Leo Varadkar tweeted out his congratulations in the hours following the results were confirmed.

Congrats to Australia on a resounding #voteyes for marriage equality. As ever Australians are willing to give everyone a fair go.

— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) November 15, 2017