Australia: A Female, Atheist Prime Minister & Marriage Equality Majority

The current Prime Minister of Australia is Julia Gillard. She is 49-years-old, unmarried and a confirmed atheist. She became Prime Minister when she became the leader of her party after the previous head (then current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd) lost the confidence of the Labour party.

Surprisingly, she is opposed to marriage equality for same-sex couples, even though a vast majority of Australians now support equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

78% of Australians believe there should be a conscience vote on allowing same-sex couples to marry, according to a national opinion poll released today.

The poll also found an increase in support for marriage equality with 62% of Australians supporting the reform, up from 60% last year.

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The Galaxy poll also showed that 80% of Australians aged between 18 and 24 support same-sex marriage and 72% of households with children aged under 18 were also in favour. 74% of Labor voters and 48% of Coalition voters support equality. 

Support for a conscience vote is uniformly high with 80% of Labor voters and 75% of Coalition voters supporting it.