What the marriage equality vote can teach us about the Voice referendum

While there has been considerable discussion of the 1967 referendum that allowed the Commonwealth to make laws for Indigenous peoples and include them in the census, far less attention has been given to the more recent postal vote on marriage equality. 

The 2017 postal vote — which determined that the right to marry in Australia was no longer determined by sex or gender — did not involve constitutional change, nor were its results binding. This was acutely demonstrated when two Liberal leaders, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison, left the chamber rather than support their constituents when the Marriage Act was finally amended.