‘No’ campaigns against Voice and same sex marriage have overlap

The group running the campaign to defeat this year’s referendum on the Voice is using the same post office box address as a now defunct group that in 2017 tried to persuade Australians to vote against same-sex marriage.

No campaigns for the Voice and same sex marriage have the same PO Box address.

The group running the campaign to defeat this year’s referendum on the Voice is using the same post office box address as a now defunct group that in 2017 unsuccessfully led the campaign to persuade Australians to vote against same-sex marriage.

In June two existing No campaign groups, Fair Australia and Recognise a Better Way, agreed to come together to form Australians for Unity, which has been granted tax-deductible charity status to fight against the Voice.

Recognise a Better Way was spearheaded by former ALP figures Warren Mundine and Gary Johns, while Fair Australia was being run by figures associated with the conservative lobby group Advance, formerly known as Advance Australia.

Sources connected to the No campaign said that although the coming together had been described as a merger, in reality Recognise a Better Way had been rolled into the Fair Australia campaign in a deal brokered by former prime minister Tony Abbott, who is an adviser to Advance.

ASIC records show Australians for Unity was formed in April before the merger and until last week its only directors were Matthew Patrick Francis Sheahan, Laura Jean Bradley and Vicki Anne Dunne.

Yes campaign supporters have complained they are under more scrutiny than people associated with the No campaign.

Last week, Mr Johns and Mr Mundine were added to the company as directors.

The original three directors of the company are all also directors of Advance, which was formed in 2018 in the aftermath of the defeat of the No case in the 2017 same-sex marriage survey.

That campaign had been spearheaded by a group called Coalition For Marriage, whose directors included sometime leaders of the Australian Christian Lobby, Lyle Shelton and Martin Iles.

Australians for Unity and Advance shared the same South Australian post box address as the now defunct Coalition For Marriage.

Until August last year it was also the postal address for Oakbridge Lawyers.

The same PO box is also used by an anti-euthanasia and assisted dying group, which is run by Branka van der Linden, the sister of former Liberal senator for the ACT Zed Seselja.

Mr Sheahan and Ms Bradley list their ASIC addresses as Oakbridge Lawyers’ SA offices.

A senior strategist for the Yes campaign said there was increasing frustration in their camp at the lack of scrutiny on the associates of some of the people who are involved in the No campaign after recent media reports that have focused on the views of some of prominent Yes supporters.