Anti-gay Australian Conservative politician Cory Bernardi plans to ‘robocall’ about a million people to tell them to vote ‘No’ against marriage equality.
Bernardi will then warn Australians against legalizing same-sex marriage and opening the floodgates to ‘radical gay sex education.’
The move comes about after he slammed the ‘Yes’ campaign for sending out ‘unsolicited’ text messages over the weekend.
In the robocall, he says: ‘As a parent, I am deeply concerned about how changing the Marriage Act will affect families and children.’
Bernardi also says: ‘Changing the Marriage Act will limit the right of parents to object to radical gay sex education and gender ideology programs from being taught in schools,’ reports the Guardian.
Cory Bernardi: ‘I’m asking for their opinion’
But on the contradiction of arguing in favor of calls over texts, he believes it’s ‘not invasive.’
His calls are simply ‘market research,’ which are ‘stock-in-trade of politics,’ he said.
He continued: ‘I’m asking for their opinion.
‘[The calls are] not invasive like sending text messages to unlisted numbers or 12-year-olds telling them how to vote,’ he said.
The Equality Campaign’s executive director Tiernan Brady responded to move, calling it a ‘red herring.’
He believes Bernardi knows most Australians are in favor of same-sex marriage so will conflate every other issue as deliberate ‘misdirection.’
Taking the high road, Brady said: ‘The campaigners against marriage equality are perfectly entitled to campaign.
‘But the Australian people will see through it no matter how many calls [opponents] make,’ he continued.
Many took to Twitter to express their confusion and anger over how a call is ‘not invasive’ but a text message is.
I'd say that a random phone call is more "intrusive" and "invasion of privacy" than a polite and short text message but hey I'm no expert pic.twitter.com/pW8d8lFqNd
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) September 28, 2017
Thinking a phone call is less invasive than a text message is some boomer ass shit pic.twitter.com/Acuin47yTj
— Brendan Keogh (@BRKeogh) September 28, 2017
Cory Bernardi claims a robo-call is less intrusive than a text message. Let's give it the pub test: what do you find more intrusive?
— Dr Queen Victoria (@Vic_Rollison) September 28, 2017
I hope he calls when people are just about to sit down for dinner. That’s the best time to call. Not intrusive or annoying at all. Nope. https://t.co/yH6nLZ4Q0J
— Elias Jahshan | الياس جهشان (@Elias_Jahshan) September 28, 2017
Australia is in the midst of a divisive public postal vote on same-sex marriage.
Equality campaigners encourage Australians to get their ‘Yes’ ballots back in the post as soon as possible. They also warn against leaving it too long, otherwise you might forget to vote.