The passing of the Same Sex Marriage Bill was a damp squib for most, but it was a cataclysmic earthquake for the serial protesting nuisances like the Greens (and for slack journalists!), who for years rode on the back of homosexuals for political stunts, point-scoring and headlines.

As far as everyone is concerned it is one professional victim group less. 'Gays' no longer have any excuse for not living however they want to. And of course, they are very welcome to be taking the responsibility themselves, like the rest of the population.

Maybe now the political parties and Parliament can address those 'wicked problems', such as the 'Struggle Streets', drug trafficking and happenings in the seas to our North.

Dear Paul,

Thanks for your advice and for the Fijian story.

There are all kinds of people that annoy us, but
what annoys me most (as Christopher Hitchens would
say) - are lazy arguments.

The link that I've cited previously told us that -
The result of the postal survey, coming in at a
61.6 per cent majority vote in favour of marriage reform,
signifies a more emphatic vote than Australians have
ever delivered on a national issue outside a referendum.

We're told that at 61.6 per cent YES came out with more
votes than either major political party has ever pulled
to win a general election.

The highest two-party preferred vote Australia has seen was\
when the Liberal-led Coalition was voted into government with
a 56.9 per cent majority in 1966. The biggest federal Labor has
pulled off was in 1983 when it was delivered government with
53.2 per cent of the vote.

Astute political commentators have pointed out, if YES and NO
were political parties, and the survey a general election, a
YES government would have the strongest majority ever.

Broken down by electorate the YES vote won 133 seats to
NO's 17. By the same methodology YES would have taken every
Senate seat.

Mr Turnbull stated:

"It is a big country. 150 electorates and 133 - that's nearly
90 per cent - voted YES. Let's not lose sight that it was
a YES vote!"

Finally, we're told that the final ABS results were very
similar to a Roy Morgan survey taken in early October which
showed 61.5 percent of Australia's voting YES on the survey
an the remaining 38.5 per cent of the respondents either
voting NO or failing to answer the question.

Results from the final Newspoll survey were also incredibly
close. Newspoll showed 79 per cent of Australians had voted
in the plebiscite with the YES vote leading NO with
63 per cent to 37 per cent.

See you on another discussion.
And a Happy New Year to you and Yours!

Dear Rusty,

Thank You for your well-reasoned contributions.
They are appreciated.
Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year and see
you on another discussion.

Foxy,

Thanks for the humourous link.

"As Qantas CEO and marriage equality advocate Alan Joyce said after Wednesday’s Yes victory: “If this was a general election, it would be the biggest landslide in Australian electoral history.”

Utter rubish, we don't have the undemocratic 'First Past the Post' voting system for our elections.

I note that you said "Nearly 8 out of 10 eligible Australians (79.5%) expressed their view"

It's good to see that you finally admit that the statement
"61.6% of the Australian population votes YES" is wrong.

Dear Is Mise,

It isn't wrong. The Australian Bureau of Statistics
went on to explain their statement as did I.
You unfortunately just grabbed hold of that statement
and not the explanations that followed where figures
were further given and the meaning was crystal clear
as to what was being stated.

However, whatever floats your boat.

I will leave you to enjoy your gruntlement.

It's pointless to continue to explain things to you
over, and over again and to thereby encourage your
mate to jump in with his foaming, ranting, and raving.

God help us!

Foxy,

The explanations were fine and I agree with them, but your statement, your's alone not the ABS's
that 61.6 of the Australian population votes YES is demonstrably wrong and you cannot shew where the ABS made such a statement.

The Australian POPULATION is 24.13 million.
0f that number 7,817,247 voted YES or less than 33% and that number, no matter how you wriggle and obfuscate ain't 61.6% of the Australian population.

Must hurt a lot to be proved wrong, 'cause you sure do go to inordinate lengths to avoid admitting a mistake; I feel sorry for you.
Go back through the thread, there are others that think that "61.6% of the Australian population votes YES" is pure balderdash.