Cormann reaches out to set ground rules for 'fair' same-sex marriage debate
"We want the process to be fair," Senator Cormann told Fairfax Media.
Michael Koziol is the immigration and legal affairs reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Parliament House
"We want the process to be fair," Senator Cormann told Fairfax Media.
Justice Kirby has lashed out at the "Mickey Mouse" postal proposal, which said was unprecedented, disrespected Australians and discriminated against marginalised voters.
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.
Liberal MPs who support same-sex marriage warn the postal vote must have a high turnout to be legitimate.
The Turnbull government will hold a people's vote on same-sex marriage by November, almost certainly in the form of a $122 million postal vote.
The political spotlight will now turn to a group of MPs and whether they will cross the floor.
A refugee in Australia's immigration detention network on Manus Island has died, with local police suggesting the man may have taken his own life.
A postal vote on same-sex marriage would likely be invalid without legislation and struck down in the High Court, according to legal advice obtained by marriage equality advocates.
A majority of voters in six seats held by Liberal MPs undecided on marriage equality support same-sex marriage and a free vote in Parliament, new polling shows.
Refugees and advocates are in despair over Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's admission, revealed in a leaked transcript, that Donald Trump could take as few as 100 or even zero refugees from Manus Island and Nauru under the US refugee deal.
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