An Australia Post mail centre in Canberra was evacuated in the early hours of Friday morning after two packages containing white powder, addressed to the Australian Christian Lobby, were discovered.
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A spokesman for Australia Post confirmed to Fairfax Media that police HAZMAT units and the ACT Emergency Services Agency had conducted tests on two items received at the mail centre and that operations had now returned to normal.
"Australia Post takes the safety of all of our staff extremely seriously. Relevant authorities evacuated the Canberra Mail Centre early this morning following the detection of a suspicious mail item," the spokesman said.
ACT Police confirmed about 30 staff had been evacuated during the incident and that it had examined two packages addressed to the Christian Lobby.
"The packages returned a negative result on site, and have since been confirmed to contain an inert substance. The packages were seized and have been sent for forensic examination," a police spokeswoman said.
The police are still investigating the origin of the packages and are working with the ACL and with Australia Post.
The discovery of the package comes as debate about the same-sex marriage postal survey ramps up, and despite both supporters and opponents of legalising same-sex marriage calling for respectful debate over the issue.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this week said he deplored some of the hurtful language that had been used in the debate so far. That comment came after a poster in the Melbourne CBD reportedly falsely claimed 92 per cent of children raised by gay parents were abused.
Advocates of a "no" vote have also been at pains to point out they, too, have endured hurtful commentary on social media.
The ACL is one of the most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage.
Last December, a car bomb exploded outside the organisation's offices. Jaden Duong, the man accused of driving the van, has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of mental impairment in a case now before the ACT Magistrates Court.
ACL managing director Lyle Shelton told Fairfax Media that his staff had been told a package addressed to the organisation, and containing an unidentified white powder, had been detected and the mail centre had had to activate its lockdown procedures overnight.
"This is obviously of great concern. We have been receiving packages of glitter all week, which we have not opened, and we have had individual people online encouraging people to send in noxious substances. We have reported that to the federal police," he said.
"We think this should be a respectful debate [about changing same-sex marriage laws], but in the last 12 months we have endured death threats, there has been a car bomb exploded outside our office, our office has been egged and we have been mailed all of this glitter."
"This is part of what would seem to be a way to try and intimidate us into silence."
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