THE Hunter has said “Yes” to same sex marriage – but with more enthusiasm in some areas than others.
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Newcastle electorate has posted the biggest “Yes” vote in NSW outside the Sydney area, with a substantial 74.8 per cent of people saying “Yes” to same sex marriage, and only 25.2 per cent returning “No”.
The percentage of Newcastle voters taking part in the controversial Australian Bureau of Statistics postal survey – 82.7 - was also above the NSW and Australian average of 79.5 per cent.
All Hunter electorates voted “Yes” to same sex marriage after a long campaign that was by and large respectfully conducted in the region.
While Newcastle was the only Hunter electorate to top the 70 per cent “Yes” barrier, two electorates that fall within the Hunter region boundaries – New England and Lyne – returned the lowest “Yes” votes of 52.5 per cent for New England, and 55.3 per cent for Lyne.
They were a long way from the lowest “Yes” votes in the state, with a number of electorates returning “Yes” votes in the 30s, and the lowest in the state – with only 30.4 per cent of people supporting same sex marriage – in the seat of Watson, around Sydney’s Bankstown, Canterbury and parts of Strathfield.
Senior Federal Labor figure Joel Fitzgibbon’s seat of Hunter returned a 64.4 per cent “Yes” vote, with 35.6 per cent voting “No”. A total of 78.5 per cent of residents posted in a survey response.
The seat of Paterson said “Yes” to the tune of 65.5 per cent of people who responded, with 34.5 per cent saying “No”.
In Shortland 67.7 per cent of people said “Yes” to same-sex marriage, and 32.3 per cent said “No”.
On the Central Coast 65.7 per cent of people in Dobell and Robertson voted “Yes”.
In NSW 4,122 million people took part in the survey, with women more likely to respond than men. More than 2.147 million women, or 81.3 per cent of eligible voters, took part, compared with 77.5 per cent of eligible male voters.
In NSW people aged 70 to 74 were the most likely to respond to the survey, with 89.8 per cent of eligible Australians taking part, while 72.1 per cent of people aged 30 to 34 responded.
