The Mercury has asked all candidates who provided an email address to the electoral commission about their stance on the upcoming postal survey on same-sex marriage.
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Their answers are below, listed in the order on the ballot.
Answers have not been edited.
GROUP A – LABOR
Vicky King, Berkeley, 64
No answer.
Chris Connor, Dapto, 62
No answer.
Ann Martin, Port Kembla 57
Voting YES.
Called for the council to raise the rainbow flag to show it supports marriage equality.
Julian Miller, Windang, age not provided
Email address not provided.
GROUP B – GREENS
Jamie Dixon, Koonawarra, 44
Voting YES.
Voting YES is the first stand that all of us who support an inclusive society must take.
We need to tell the current federal government that we need an Australian Bill of Rights, and the simple right of union for two people in love is a very fitting place to start.
The moment we start qualifying how basic rights are applied, we undermine them all.
Anne Marett, Corrimal, 70
Email address not provided.
Josh Bell, Marshall Mount, 20
Voting YES.
The right to marry who you love is not a luxury. It is not a privilege. It is a right.
Gay men and women do not deserve to feel like second-class citizens simply because of who they love. Most people take for granted the ability to marry, as well as the legal and social benefits that come with it. Same-sex couples instead are faced with people telling them they shouldn’t get married because their kids are the next “stolen generation”.
I stand in solidarity with the Queer community. I stand for an equal society, where your worth is not determined by who you are attracted to."
Julie Marlow, Berkeley, 67
Email address not provided.
GROUP C – Independent
Gordon Bradbery, Berkeley, 66
Voting YES.
I will be voting in favour of marriage equality.
I don't believe spending $122 million on a non binding outcome which Federal Parliamentarians will ultimately vote on is ethical.
Freedom of religion and cultural choice means also that everyone should be able to choose their own approach to marriage. I'm voting to create a choice to marry or not, regardless of which and how couples wish to live and express their affection.
Marriage is no longer about making babies, it is about responsible, loving and caring parenting and solidarity with another unique person to share the challenges and joys of life.
Dom Figliomeni , Port Kembla, age not provided
Email address not provided.
Terry Gallagher, Primbee, 68
Voting NO.
I have friends & family who are gay, some chose civil union, others just live together like thousands of heterosexual couples have for years, and if any of them choose to don leopard skin undies and swing on a chandelier in their bedroom they certainly wouldn’t flaunt it or march on parliament to pass a law on it either, they just get on with it.
We have old people living in the streets and committing suicide while we wasting millions of dollars on a well marketed diversionary tactic that coerces voters to be what’s perceived as politically correct.
Donna Waters, Port Kembla, 47
Voting YES.
Thanks for the opportunity to respond on this issue and I would love to be published – I feel strongly about this!
I will vote YES! to marriage equality. I am embarrassed that we are still debating this point. I don’t hold ideological or religious views that are divisive in their definition of marriage, and who often condemn homosexual desire and activity.
For me, issues of social justice, equality and equity of gender, race, class and opportunity are paramount.
I am saddened that some of the people I love most in the world are treated as second class citizens by simply loving who they love. I believe ‘we should all greet each other with humility’. I am a human being. As you are.
GROUP D – LIBERAL
Cameron Walters, Mount Kembla, 25
Would not answer.
I welcome the opportunity for all Australians to have their say on marriage equality. I will exercise my right to vote in the plebiscite and I encourage everyone in the Illawarra to do the same. Whatever the outcome I believe our country should embrace the decision and move forward.
Elisha Aitken, Mount Keira, age not provided
Email address not provided.
Karen Darcy, Port Kembla, age not provided
Email address not provided.
Stewart Payne, Haywards Bay, 61
Email address not provided.
Ungrouped
John Mullan, Mangerton, age not provided
Would not answer.
I advocate that we leave consenting adults to make adult choices for themselves regarding their own families and sexuality as long as their choices do not injure others.
I do worry about the knock-on issues that arise. Impoverished young women who for no other reason than a desire to escape abject poverty submit themselves to surrogacy. Shouldn’t our individual decisions and more generally the laws we wish to promulgate consider not just our citizens but the greater global issues. Maybe we should also visit the legality of surrogacy within the Australian jurisdiction and that would save people of any sexual persuasion having to go overseas to become a family.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
