Australian court dismisses challenge to gay marriage survey
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s highest court cleared the way Thursday for the government to conduct a public survey on whether gay marriage should be legalized.
Gay rights advocates had argued in the High Court that the government didn’t have the power to conduct the 122 million Australian dollar ($97 million) postal survey without Senate approval, but the court dismissed that challenge.
Opinion polls show that most Australians want same-sex marriage legalized, but many advocates question how representative of Australian attitudes the postal survey would be.
They want Parliament to decide the issue without consultation with the public.