Federal Member for Forrest Nola Marino has confirmed she will respect the result of the same-sex marriage survey and will vote according to her electorate’s wishes.
Mrs Marino said on Wednesday she strongly supported a public vote on same-sex marriage, and that is was her party’s position at the last election.
“I also said I would respect the result, and given that 63.8 per cent of people in Forrest voted yes, and the national result, I will be voting for same-sex marriage in Parliament,” she said.
“I understand the concerns about religious freedoms, but I will ensure they will also be protected.”
In Forrest, 80,897 electors returned a postal vote with 63.8 per cent (or 51,612 people) voting yes and 36.2 per cent (or 29,285 people) voting no.
In Western Australia 801,575 people – or 63.7 per cent of electors – voted yes.
Overall, 61.6 per cent of Australians who returned a ballot voted in favour of a change in the law to allow same-sex marriage.
There were 4.9 million Australians (or 38.4 per cent) who voted no.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday he wants legislation enacting the outcome of the survey, which he described as “unequivocal and overwhelming”, passed through parliament by Christmas.
“My commitment was to give every Australian their say – that has been done,” he said.
“They have said yes...It is our job to do that.”
Mrs Marino’s Liberal colleague Andrew Hastie, the member for Canning which covers Mandurah, Pinjarra, Dwellingup and the Peel region, has confirmed he will abstain from the vote despite 60.2 per cent of his electorate voting yes.
