“Small win” after local elections

Marriage equality advocates are remaining positive after last weekend’s Tasmanian Upper House election results which saw no effective movement towards candidates who support for same-sex marriage.

Tasmanians took to the polls on Saturday for the three Upper House seats of Montgomery, Nelson and Pembroke.

All three incumbent lawmakers, two independent and one Liberal Party member, had opposed a marriage equality bill put to the Upper House last year which led to its downfall.

Despite strong campaigning by supporters in the three electorates, sitting members Jim Wilkinson and Liberal Party member Vanessa Goodwin were returned to their seats.

In Montgomery, Upper House president Sue Smith lost to Liberal candidate Leonie Hiscutt who does not support changes to marriage laws.

Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome said a majority of voters backed marriage equality-supporting candidates. All candidates except for the sitting members and Hiscutt had supported the issue.

Croome said 51.4 per cent of voters had backed marriage equality candidates however preferences helped Wilkinson and Hiscutt over the line while Goodwin was first past the post in Pembroke.

“In the seat of Nelson, where the marriage equality campaign was strongest, sitting member Jim Wilkinson was punished for not supporting state marriage equality with a swing against him of 15 per cent and the overall majority of votes going to pro-equality candidates,” he said.

“In the seat of Montgomery, the only candidate who declared opposition to state marriage equality, Leonie Hiscutt, also failed to win a majority of votes.

“Jim Wilkinson and Leonie Hiscutt now know that a majority of voters in their seats want marriage equality, and if elected, it is their duty to represent that view in the Upper House.”

The Australian Christian Lobby criticised Croome’s analysis of the elections.

“The facts are self-evident: candidates with a more conservative stance on social issues won comfortably in all three electorates. This is a clear message from the community to the Upper House to reject another likely push to introduce same-sex marriage legislation later in the year,” Tasmanian ACL director Mark Brown said.

The new Upper House will maintain the status quo of eight votes to six against a marriage equality bill. The Tasmanian government has previously indicated it would re-introduce a bill into Parliament this year.