Australian economy losing $550 million to New Zealand in same-sex marriages
Australia is losing millions of dollars in business to New Zealand because of same-sex weddings.
A report by ANZ Bank estimated that $550 million would be generated in the first year if same-sex marriage was legalised in the country.
A large number of same-sex couples living in Australia travel to New Zealand to get married, with 58 per cent of weddings held in the country last year being between same-sex Australian couples.
The author of the report, Cherelle Murphy, explained that it was not just weddings generating the revenue, but also the additional services such as honeymoons and divorce lawyers.
Support for legalising same-sex marriage in the country is at an all time high, with an estimated two thirds of Australian’s supporting the equality movement.
Alex Greenwich, a co-chair of the Australians for Marriage Equality campaign said that politicians could “no longer avoid the momentum”.
The Australian government just announced that they had allocated $170 million to a public vote on the matter.
Right-wing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had pledged to bring the public a plebiscite, but it has been criticised because it does not have legal standing.
Attempts to launch the vote have repeatedly been rejected by opposition parties because of the “fiscal risk”.
These parties are pushing for the decision to be made in parliament, where there is an overwhelming majority support for the legislation.
However, Turnbull has blocked a parliamentary vote because of pressures from within his conservative party.
He has insisted that he could not just hold a parliamentary vote on equal marriage because “he is not a dictator” – and therefore wants to hold a public vote instead.
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, a country that claims to be “100% homosexual”, has declared war on Australia over the the government’s refusal to grant same-sex marriage.
The CEO of Qantas, openly gay Alan Joyce, is also a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage in the country.
Joyce joined a number of other CEO’s in writing a letter to parliament to express their support for the matter.
The CEO was recently attacked with a pie, but has pledged to continue the fight for equality.
