Australians voted YES in support of same-sex marriage!

Today Australia learned the answer to the $122 million dollar question - does the Australian public want same sex couples to have the right to marry?

After what seemed like the longest speech of our lives, we can finally confirm that Australia has voted YES in support of same-sex marriage. Those in favor of same-sex marriage won with 61.1% of the vote, 

David Kalich, the head statistician at the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Canberra, released the results from the postal survey today at midday (NZ time).

But even though the yes vote prevailed, unfortunately the matter does not end today, and same sex marriage will not automatically be legalised. This is however a good step in the right direction. 

PM Malcolm Turnbull has said a private member's bill will be debated in Parliament, with the PM pushing for a vote before Christmas.

That means getting a bill through both the upper and lower house of the Australian parliament. The ABC asked all MPs how they would vote if a bill for SSM came before the house and on their count the bill would pass.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.