AUSTRALIA: 72% Back Marriage Equality

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

Support among Australians for same-sex marriage and for a conscience vote in the Coalition has reached an all-time high, according to a survey by the Liberal Party’s own pollster. A Crosby Textor poll, commissioned by Australian Marriage Equality, has found that 72 per cent of Australians want same-sex marriage legalised, while 77 per cent think Coalition MPs should be granted a conscience vote. It comes a day after new Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm challenged Prime Minister Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a free vote on same-sex marriage and said he would move a private member’s bill to amend the federal marriage act as soon as that happened. The Crosby Textor poll is expected to bring a renewed push from marriage equality advocates, who will begin targeting Coalition MPs in earnest after growing public support for same-sex marriage and Sunday’s widely publicised interview with Ian Thorpe, in which Australia’s greatest Olympian confirmed he is gay.