Can We Even Afford Equality? You Won’t Believe How Much Report Claims It Costs

A new report claims that a vote on same sex marriage in Australia would cost over half a billion dollars.

A non binding plebiscite on whether or not to legalize same sex marriage will be held by the Australian government however a set date is yet to be scheduled.

The cost of the plebiscite was originally estimated by the Australian Electoral Commission at $158 million however this has since shot up to allow for “total economic costs.”

According to a report by PwC, when the plebiscite does occur it will cost Australia $525 million.

Luke Sayer CEO of PwC Australia has stated that “total economic costs have not been considered before” and that they “should be part of the debate on the best way to achieve a resolution to this issue.”

Sayer stated:

“The real costs to government, the economy and members of the community to hold a standalone plebiscite are more than three times higher than the numbers commonly quoted.”

The report claims that holding the plebiscite on a Saturday could alone cost Australia $280 million in lost productivity with the campaign funding costing another $66 million.

It has also been suggested that the stress and public nature of the plebiscite could result in up to $20 million in “additional mental health costs” for the LGBT community as the PwC report estimates that 50,000 gay and lesbian individuals will be negatively affected by it.

The report also suggests that those individuals will strong beliefs against same sex marriage could be negatively affected by the plebiscite and result in additional mental health costs however “limited evidence” of this was available to researchers.

With the estimated cost of the plebiscite rapidly increasing it would seem that another course of action would be the most sensible.

The PwC looked at two other scenarios and claims that by holding the plebiscite at the same time as the federal election would reduce costs to $113 million and that by simply holding a vote in Parliament would cost the Australian economy just $17 million, resulting in a whopping saving of over half a billion dollars.

One involved a stand-alone plebiscite, while another looked at holding the vote at the same time as the federal election. A third option examined the financial impact of a vote in federal Parliament.

The overall cost of the vote would be reduced to $113 million if the plebiscite was held at the same time as the federal election, dropping to $17 million dollars if a vote was held in Parliament to resolve the issue.

Image via Instagram.

Natasha is a freelance writer, feminist, and coffee addict based in the UK. She has a Master's degree in Literary Studies and specialised in Gender Studies throughout her time at University. She spends her free time collecting tattoos and dying her hair bizarre colours, much to her girlfriend's dismay.