Images of crying toddlers on social media being 'deprived of a mother and father', letterbox drops warning a 'yes' vote could lead to teachers grooming children to explore being homosexual and workers claiming to have been sacked for expressing their views on same sex marriage. Make no mistake, the national debate over the postal vote currently underway is showing signs of rapidly heading into the gutter.
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Sadly, this was always inevitable. Despite pleas from the Prime Minister down for both sides to conduct a civil and respectful debate, there appears little chance of that happening.
Those who lived through the same sex marriage debate in Ireland and have undergone a similar process warned Australians in same sex relationships they should brace for vilification and prepare to become the targets of homophobic propaganda.
Of course the most offensive voices are often the loudest, while the respectful majority remains largely unheard from as they go about quietly posting back their vote. But the debate, which is already dividing some communities shows real risk of becoming toxic. Aside from offensive, anonymous leaflets and shrill moralising over the issue, campaigns on both sides are ramping up and becoming more strident, ensuring the issue will remain in the headlines for some time yet.
That the ACT education minister has felt it necessary to wade into the debate and caution schools to remain inclusive shows divisions are emerging even down to the point of disenfranchising some parents from schools that have expressed a view on the vote.
And despite the assurances from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that the rollout of the vote is going well, reports have also emerged of survey papers dumped en masse and sold online, casting further doubt over the validity of the final outcome in what is already a deeply flawed process.
These failings on their own would be significant enough. Yet they remain a side issue to the most concerning aspect of the process, namely the risk of real harm to those directly impacted. Mental health groups have warned they are seeing a dramatic spike in demand for their services, and fear that demand will only increase as the debate intensifies.
What appears clear is that despite the best attempts by those charged with conducting the survey it is causing real, measurable distress to many in our community. Which is understandable when we consider the question, what right does the entire voting public have to cast judgement over the legal, adult relationships of a small sub-section of our community?
We are now too far into this process to change direction, and the debate is likely to get grubbier before it improves. Perhaps the best we can now hope for is a clear, decisive outcome that allows for a quick end to this divisive and flawed national exercise, one that allows our politicians to move on and get back to the job of governing the country.
