The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today announced the astounding result of the two-month postal survey on same- sex marriage with 61.6 per cent of people voting 'yes' and 38.4 per cent voted 'no' in the postal survey.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a vocal advocate of marriage equality, called on lawmakers to heed the "overwhelming" result and to commit to legislate for gay marriage before Christmas.
"It is our job now to get on with it, and get this done," the prime minister said today shortly after ABS declared the survey result.
Every state and territory recorded over 60 per cent 'yes' result except New South Wales, which recorded 57.8 per cent approval.
More From This Section
Of 12.7 million people who took part in the survey, 7.8 million voted 'yes' and 4.9 million said 'no'.
Parliamentary debate to legalise same-sex marriage could begin as early as tomorrow.
A cross-party group of senators - led by Liberal Dean Smith and supported by senior Labour figure Penny Wong, amongst others - will introduce a private bill to the upper house today afternoon.
The Equality Campaign described the result as resounding and historic.
"This happened because millions of Australians reached out to our own families, neighbourhoods, organisations - to stand up for equality, stand by our loved ones and share why YES was so important," spokesman Alex Greenwich said in a statement.
"Parliament still has to pass Australia's unequivocal mandate for equality into law. And you can be sure we'll hold them to that - we expect a timely vote on a fair and simple bill, this year," he said.
The UN Human Rights Committee last week criticised Australia for putting gays and lesbians "through an unnecessary and divisive public opinion poll." The committee called on Australia to legislate for marriage equality regardless of the survey's outcome.