The Australian Bureau of Statistics is in discussion with Australian federal police after it emerged marriage equality postal votes were being put up for sale online.
The concerns were raised in the past week as the ABS began sending ballots out to people for the upcoming marriage equality postal survey, and one appeared on eBay with a starting bid of $1,500.
There have been up to 20 instances of someone trying to sell their vote online, with one ad to “buy my vote” posted on eBay with a starting bid of $1,500, the ABC reported.
“What is this plebiscite worth to you,” the ad said. “The reason I’m selling my vote is because either way I don’t care but thought there are people who do.”
The ad has since been taken down but deputy statistician for the ABS, Jonathan Palmer, told a Senate inquiry on Friday the ABS doesn’t have a policy on how to deal with such acts, and he had asked for some cases to be referred to Australian federal police (AFP).
“In our original risk register there were some risks that required us to work well with the AFP and we’ve done some of that in risks relating to cyber security,” said Palmer. “But this particular line of fraudulent activity is not one that we, in our mitigation strategies, identified a need to liaise with the AFP earlier, so we are doing it now.”
It’s not clear whether selling a vote in the postal survey is a criminal offence.
The AFP told Guardian Australia it had not received any formal referrals by Saturday morning, but it was working with the ABS on the issue. “Should a formal referral be received, an evaluation will be conducted in accordance with standard procedures,” a spokesman said. “The AFP has discussed this issue with the ABS and will consider future referrals in accordance these procedures.”
Both sides of the marriage equality debate have criticised the actions of people trying to sell their vote.
Tiernan Brady, the executive director of the Australians for Equality campaign, told the ABC the person who posted the offer was “an idiot”. “This is a serious discussion about real people’s lives,” he said.
Monica Doumit, a spokeswoman for the Coalition For Marriage group, welcomed eBay’s prompt action in removing the ad. “We want all Australian to actually have their say, so obviously people selling their vote online isn’t within the spirit of it,” she told Guardian Australia. “We want all Australians to have their vote rather than trying to make some money.”
Amid the concerns about the validity of the voting mechanism, debate reached new heights this week as people started to receive their ballots and campaigns officially launched.
On Saturday Labor backbencher Pat Conroy said calls by the former prime minister John Howard for the government to produce legislation detailing religious protections were a “red herring”.
“He did this in the Republican movement where he tried to attack future mechanisms rather than the fundamental questions about whether it is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” Conroy told the ABC.
But Liberal MP Craig Kelly said Howard made a good point and there was no legislation to which Australians could actually say yes or no in the survey.
The no campaign has continued to say religious freedoms are under threat if marriage equality is legislated. Prominent no-campaigner Lyle Shelton was widely condemned on Friday for suggesting parents should be able to send their gay children to conversion therapy – a discredited practice considered a threat to the health and human rights of subjected individuals.
Shelton told BuzzFeed he considered “conversion therapy” to be a loaded term, but that parents should have the right to take their children to therapy for “help”.
“Should people be forced to go to conversion therapy? No, absolutely not,” he said. “Now, children – they are under the care and responsibility of their parents, so I think if someone’s a minor, it is up to their parents. And I think parental rights should be respected.”
The Australian Medical Association, as well as past presidents, were quick to “unequivocally condemn” the practice endorsed by Shelton’s remarks.
“Conversion therapy is harmful to both the individuals who are subjected to it, and society more broadly, as it perpetuates the erroneous belief that homosexuality is a disorder which requires a cure,” the AMA said on Friday.
If you are not outraged about this, you don't know what gay conversion therapy is. https://t.co/mWLnbGr74o
— Prof Kerryn Phelps (@drkerrynphelps) September 14, 2017
Several former AMA presidents who appeared in a video on Friday urging people to vote yes, as well as current New South Wales president Professor Brad Frankum, attended a rally with medical professionals, students, and supporters in Sydney’s Martin Place on Saturday.
“I think discrimination has very severe long-term adverse psychological and physical health consequences and, as doctors, we are all about people’s health and wellbeing and supporting marriage equality is going to help people in the LGBTIQ community,” said Frankum.
"#MarriageEquality is a health issue."
— AU Marriage Equality (@AMEquality) September 16, 2017
Wonderful support from @AMA_NSW and medical students in Sydney today. pic.twitter.com/mdFusqHTs4
A large crowd also attended a marriage equality rally in Adelaide, which heard from Labor senator Penny Wong. It follows a rally last Sunday in Sydney, when an estimated 30,000 people marched in support of marriage equality.
Cannot see the end of the rally. #VoteYes pic.twitter.com/6OnCb292Et
— Mikey Nicholson (@Mikey_Nicholson) September 16, 2017
