{"id":195434,"date":"2017-11-15T15:12:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T05:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=195434"},"modified":"2020-09-17T15:28:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T05:28:08","slug":"littleproud-to-vote-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/11\/15\/littleproud-to-vote-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Littleproud Says He Will Vote ‘No’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Member for Maranoa
David Littleproud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 15, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud announced on Wednesday he will vote “no” in Federal Parliament to the same sex marriage legislation, in line with how his electorate voted.<\/p>\n

In Maranoa (which includes the southern sections of the South Burnett, Kingaroy and Nanango), only 43.9 per cent of voters ticked \u201cyes\u201d in the same-sex marriage survey (35,475 votes), while 56.1 per cent voted \u201cno\u201d (80,783).<\/p>\n

A total of 78.2 per cent of eligible voters returned their survey forms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Maranoa didn\u2019t return the highest \u2018no\u2019 vote in Australia, survey results revealed 56.1 per cent of Maranoa voted no and I will use my vote according to my electorate\u2019s wishes,\u201d Mr Littleproud said<\/p>\n

Mr Littleproud said his personal decision was to vote “no” but he had always said he would listen to Maranoa and vote according to the majority.<\/p>\n

He said the debate had been “respectful and considerate” in his electorate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the result, we stick together in the bush.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a flood or fire \u2013 no matter your background or lifestyle, we\u2019re all standing side-by-side filling sandbags or volunteering to help the whole community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians have spoken and resolved the law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry, it\u2019s now up to elected representatives to organise the legislation and I\u2019ll play a constructive role to make sure it meets society\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligious freedom and if same-sex marriage would be included in our education system were consistently raised with me as areas of concern so, as the Maranoa MP, I will make sure my electorate\u2019s strong voice will form part of this further debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The politician representing the electorate which had the strongest “no” vote in the country, Labor MP Jason Clare from the Sydney seat of Blaxland, has already indicated he will vote “yes” in Parliament despite 73.9 per cent of his constituents choosing “no”.<\/p>\n