Australia : True cost of marriage equality plebiscite over half a billion AUD

Marriage equality plebiscite “A minefield of unintended costs, consequences and complications”.

Equality advocates have appealed to Federal Cabinet to reconsider the marriage equality plebiscite following the release of an independent report completed by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing the true cost to the Australian economy will be over half a billion dollars.

Australian Marriage Equality National Director Rodney Croome said:

“Every single government minister must read this report before Cabinet considers legislation for a marriage equality plebiscite.”

“The more information we get about the marriage equality plebiscite, the clearer it becomes that it’s just an incredibly costly and harmful opinion poll.”

“With the stakes so high for the economy and for the mental health of LGBTI Australians the Government needs to reconsider it’s position.”

“It’s a sign of maturity and strength to change your mind in the face of new information. The plebiscite legislation will be a minefield of unexpected costs, unintended consequences, and complications about timing and public funding.”

“More and more Coalition members are speaking out against a marriage equality plebiscite and I encourage them to raise the issue in the party room as soon as possible.”

“The best way to resolve the marriage equality issue is with a free vote in the parliament as soon as possible.”

The PwC report puts the true cost of a plebiscite at $525 million. This is made up of the following costs over a two year period from January 2016:

running a plebiscite ($158m)
funding of community campaigns ($66m)
time for people to vote ($281m)
the impact on mental health and wellbeing ($20m)
For more information about the report click here.

Photo By User:Ikzing (Australia states map.svg) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons