Lobbyists on both sides of the marriage equality debate will be free to distribute misleading and deceptive material ahead of the same-sex marriage postal vote, because the usual campaign rules have been discarded.
In order to circumvent the Senate, the Turnbull government's optional marriage survey will be conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, meaning the safeguards of the Commonwealth Electoral Act would not apply.
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This is not a unifying moment: Wong
In an emotional address to the Senate, Labor's Penny Wong says having a plebiscite exposes children of same sex couples to hatred.
Despite that, Fairfax Media understands the government is working with the ABS on a list of regulations that it says will ensure the process is proper, to be released on Monday. However, those would not be underpinned by law.
"This is now going to be a matter for the ABS to determine," Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann said on Wednesday night.
Senator Cormann said "the usual laws apply" regarding fraud and mail theft, but acknowledged there would be no legal protections for LGBTI people who fear they will be the victim of a vicious two-month hate campaign.
He said questions about inflammatory campaign material were "pre-emptive". "We trust the Australian people," he told ABC's RN Drive. "We certainly call on all Australians [to participate] courteously and respectfully."
Senator Cormann noted the government's preference was a compulsory attendance plebiscite in which "the normal electoral rules would have applied", including the usual authorisation requirements.
The plebiscite was again blocked by the Senate on Wednesday morning, following an emotional speech by gay Labor senator Penny Wong blasting the government's claims the debate would be respectful.
!["We trust the Australian people": Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170809220847im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/s/a/2/1/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxskoj.png/1502274251169.jpg)
"Have a read of some of the things which are said about us and our families and then come back here and tell us this is a unifying moment," Senator Wong said.
"The Australian Christian lobby described our children as the stolen generation. It is not a unifying moment. It is exposing our children to that kind of hatred."
![Labor senator Penny Wong delivered an emotional speech on same-sex marriage in the Senate.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170809220847im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/s/b/b/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxskoj.png/1502274251169.jpg)
However, on Wednesday Labor's legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus indicated the opposition will lend the postal vote legitimacy by campaigning for a "yes" vote if it goes ahead.
But the postal vote has fractured marriage equality advocates, who have struggled to respond with a united front, and are under pressure from some parts of the LGBTI community to boycott the entire process.
Veteran gay rights campaigner Rodney Croome caught other advocates off-guard when he used a midday press conference in Canberra to announce a High Court challenge, flanked by independent MP Andrew Wilkie.
Barrister Ron Merkel and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre will take the case, arguing the postal vote is invalid without underpinning legislation and "may exceed the ABS's authority", Mr Croome said.
The Equality Campaign, chaired by NSW politician Alex Greenwich and Human Rights Law Centre director Anna Brown, was still seeking its own legal advice on Wednesday night, pending the release of details.
"Any decision around our next legal steps will be considered and based on the details that have yet to be provided by the government," the campaign's executive director Tiernan Brady said.Â
In question time, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insisted the campaign would be respectful and said the views of all sides should not be censored, even if offensive and extreme.
"I have great confidence in the good sense of the Australian people," he said. "How they act is a matter for them ... and they will be judged by Australians, as will their arguments."