Same-sex marriage survey: Go ahead Australia, have your say

This is now a postal survey that has been sanctioned, in a roundabout way, by the highest court in the land, writes Caroline Overington.

Well, isn’t this a big win for the government!

Against all odds, the Turnbull government has won the right to survey the Australian people on the subject of same-sex marriage.

You — the voters — are going to get what we here at The Australian have long said you deserve.

You are going to get your say.

And how fantastic is it that we still live in the kind of country that allows you to have your say?

Many of you will be voting no, and that is entirely their right.

• LIVE REACTION: Same-sex marriage verdict

But a great many people — including conservative commentators, and the group known as Conservatives for YES — will be voting YES.

And that’s democracy.

We get to argue. We get to debate. We get to have a say about something that’s quite clearly very important to a great many people.

Pretty much all the polling says the YES campaign will win, and by a nice margin. But much will depend on who shows up.

The High Court’s decision, delivered just minutes ago, gives the whole exercise added weight. This is now a postal survey that has been sanctioned, in a roundabout way, by the highest court in the land.

It’s something the government is well within its rights to do, which makes it seem more important than it seemed when it was simply a non-binding, non-compulsory survey of whomever bothered to fill out the forms.

This brings new energy. Both sides will be feeling muscular. The NO camp will be steeling itself for the battle ahead. Many people on the NO side want to take a stand against creeping political correctness, and for religious freedom.

But the YES camp — which fought this plebiscite with all its heart, launching the very challenge that went down before the High Court today — can afford to feel energised, too. They didn’t want this to happen, but it is happening. The battle they did not want to have has arrived at their front door, and if they know anything, they know they have to win it.

So, here’s your chance, Australia, courtesy, of all institutions, the Turnbull government, and the High Court.

What do you really think? Let’s hear the argument. Both sides, loud and clear. And then let’s vote! It is, after all, your birthright, as a citizen of this Australian democracy, still one of the greatest in the world.