Former prime minister Tony Abbott has kicked off his campaign for a 'no' vote in a postal plebiscite, urging Australians to reject same-sex marriage if they want to protect religious freedom and reject political correctness.
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"Obviously I will be voting no. But in the end this is not about the politicians, this is about the people, it's about your view," he said on Wednesday morning.
"And I say to you if you don't like same-sex marriage, vote no. If you're worried about religious freedom and freedom of speech, vote no, and if you don't like political correctness, vote no because voting no will help to stop political correctness in its tracks."
The Turnbull government on Tuesday agreed to hold a $122 million non-compulsory, non-binding plebiscite on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. Ballots will likely be posted from September, should the plan survive a likely High Court challenge.
Mr Abbott praised his successor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, for settling on the policy and said a postal plebiscite would be authoritative. Earlier this week, he had questioned whether a postal ballot would have legitimacy amid concerns the response rate could be low.
The former Liberal leader, who engineered the Coalition's original plebiscite policy in 2015 shortly before losing the top job, promised to respect the result and urged all MPs to do the same.
On Tuesday, Mr Abbott's sister Christine Forster, a Liberal who sits on the City of Sydney council and wants to marry her long-term partner Virginia Edwards, expressed deep disappointment at this week's outcome.
She told Fairfax Media the Liberal Party's approach "just leaves me despairing about whether or not my party, which I'm a member of and which I love and am very loyal to, could actually ever see fit to do the right thing".
Ms Forster also praised a private member's bill drafted by senator Dean Smith, observing it protected the religious freedoms of marriage celebrants.
Mr Turnbull, a supporter of same-sex marriage, has signalled he will not be an active campaigner ahead of the vote.
Opponents of change are gearing up for an all-out campaign for a "no" result, including distributing leaflets claiming the children of gay and lesbian parents are more prone to "abuse and neglect".
While the government believes it is on safe legal ground with its postal plebiscite, the policy could still face a legal challenge from same-sex marriage advocates.
