Australians will be surveyed on their support for gay marriage next week after the nation’s highest court on Thursday dismissed challenges to the government’s power to conduct the postal ballot without Senate permission.
Gay rights advocates argued in a two-day emergency hearing in the High Court in Melbourne that ended Wednesday that the government did not have the constitutional power to survey the public through a 122 million Australian dollar ($97 million) postal ballot on whether the prohibition on same-sex marriage should be lifted.