澳大利亞最高法院駁回對同性婚姻投票的挑戰

Australia's High Court has rejected two separate legal challenges to the government's voluntary postal vote that could give lawmakers the go-ahead to legalize same-sex marriage.

The court did not issue any written opinions Thursday explaining why it decided to reject the challenges after two days of hearings.

Gay rights advocates went to the Melbourne-based court seeking to scrap the plan, arguing that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government does not have the authority to spend $97 million on a postal vote. They also expressed fears the vote could bring harm to Australia's gay, lesbian and transgender community, and have demanded lawmakers go on the record with a simple "yes" or "no" vote.

The High Court's decision means the government can go ahead and begin mailing the ballots next week, with the results to be announced in November. If a majority of "yes" ballots are returned, lawmakers would follow through with a vote on the measure the following month.澳大利亞聯邦最高法院駁回了兩項對政府進行同性婚姻自願郵寄公民投票的法律挑戰。

澳大利亞最高法院星期四沒有發表書面陳述，說明經過兩天聽證後爲什麼決定駁回挑戰。

同性戀權益倡導者前往位於墨爾本的最高法院，希望取消郵寄投票的計劃。他們表示，特恩布爾政府無權劃撥9700萬美元用於郵寄投票。他們還表示，擔心投票會給澳大利亞的男女同性戀和跨性別者羣體帶來傷害，並要求議員直接記名投票，表示支持還是反對。

澳大利亞聯邦最高法院的決定意味着政府可以從下週開始寄出選票，清點結果11月公佈。如果投票支持者佔多數的話，議員們將於12月就同性婚姻合法化議案進行投票。