The vote outcome will be announced tomorrow.
As may have been explained before:
A YES vote majority will not automatically mean SSM is legal in Australia. It will allow for our government to have a vote in parliament - a "conscience" vote which means you vote as YOU see fit, not your official party line (which is usually how most things go in our parliament)
A NO vote would automatically mean it is a NO and no discussion will be had in our parliament. Although a bill may be put forward, it is unlikely it will be put through or will it be held up/ignored until 2018
The YES vs NO has been a mixed bag of politics - the usual left vs right is obvious but there is a middle overlap which is religious vs non religious, economic conservatives who are left leaning in social stuff vs more socially conservative left leaners etc
The "NO" side of politics have said that even if it is YES they will not vote YES automatically and will judge it after the result
The "NO" side have also said that they want harder restrictions and have started tabling bills to be put forward that would allow people to not provide services (the good old cake stuff etc) based on religious grounds (this is all muddy and mostly involves hard right religious people who do not understand that these laws are already in Law for heterosexuals anyway, they just want it specific to push a point)
As soon as the % comes through then the drama will start - a 49% No vs 51% yes for example is technically a win but then the NO will not take that and if it is a larger majority then reactions will be very different.. most are tipping over 60% YES as a conservative estimate
Some things to note
The vote was NOT compulsory BUT had a very high response rate
"A bigger percentage of us have voted in the survey than the Irish did in their referendum on the same issue; Brits in the Brexit poll and even Americans in the presidential elections."
The "NO" side have pretty much conceded already BUT they feel the % is what is important. Esp since it is a % count scenario unlike other votes such as the US system where a republican system is in place. This vote is purely count what is there.
if 100 vote - 51 say YES then it YES - BUT - in parliament a minister who knows his electorate voted 75% no in a conservative area may vote no to reflect this etc etc
One of the major parties has said that regardless of ant outcome - they will legislate SSM in their first 100 days if they succeed in next election - and considering the mess our current government is in, then they may get in
