Leichhardt supports postal survey but No vote holds in Kennedy


It's a resounding Yes from Australia on same-sex marriage, with 61.6 per cent in favour of changing marriage laws and 38.4 per cent voting No. 

Almost eight million Aussies voted Yes in the non-binding postal plebiscite, with every state and territory recording a Yes vote of more than 60 per cent.

Out of the 150 Federal Electoral Divisions, 133 voted Yes, with 17 divisions recording a majority No response.

The sprawling Kennedy electorate, held by Bob Katter, bucked the national trend and recorded a majority No vote of 53 per cent against changing marriage laws.

Kennedy covers 568,993sq km and includes Normanton, Burketown, Mt Isa, Innisfail, some southern suburbs of Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands.

TNQ's other federal electorate of Leichhardt was in line with the national vote, with 63 per cent of eligible voters in favour of changing the marriage laws to allow same-sex couples to wed.

The result is not surprising with the sitting MP, Warren Entsch being a long-term backer of marriage equality and proponent of Private Members Bills on the issue in the past.

More than 80 per cent of the Leichhardt electorate lives in the Cairns metropolitan area.

Nationally, the strongest Yes votes were recorded in Melbourne (84%), Sydney (84%), the Prime Minister's seat of Wentworth (81%), Grayndler (80%), Brisbane (80%) and Higgins (78%).

The strongest No votes were all recorded in NSW in the seats of Blaxland (74%), Watson (70%), McMahan (65%), Werriwa (64%), Fowler (64%) and Parramatta (62%).