It would be “reasonable” for Labor to demand the government drop public funding for the same-sex marriage plebiscite campaign in return for its support, the education minister, Simon Birmingham, has said. The comments are likely to irritate conservatives who successfully argued for public funding to help the no case overcome a perceived funding gap with the yes case. Labor poised to kill off marriage equality plebiscite when parliament resumes Read moreOn Sky TV on Monday, Birmingham was asked about dropping the $15m of public funding for the yes and no cases in the plebiscite. On Monday Australian Marriage Equality released ReachTel polling that showed two-thirds of Australians voters want marriage equality to be legislated by parliament before the end of the year. When Brandis said the government was prepared to compromise on the plebiscite, Labor said its objections could be mitigated by scrapping public funding, setting clearer rules on advertising and making the plebiscite self-executing, ushering in marriage equality automatically if the yes vote won.

Source: The Guardian October 10, 2016 07:36 UTC