New Zealand: Continued influx of gay Australian couples marrying expected to continue

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A continued influx of same-sex Australian couples looking to marry is expected in New Zealand.

Gay rights campaigners in Australia praised New Zealand after it became the 13th country to legalise equal marriage.

According to reports 40% of same-sex marriages in 2013 in New Zealand were to foreign visitors.

Mark Proffit of Rainbow Tourism in Sydney has said the lack of same-sex marriage in Australia is pushing couples who do not wish to wait to New Zealand.

“We’ve got no chance of law reform here for three or four years, I suspect, so that’s going to drive people who have been holding off,” he said.

Australia’s High Court in December overturned legislation allowing same-sex marriages in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

The ACT Parliament passed a bill in October making the territory the first part of Australia to legalise equal marriage.

But the Federal Government challenged the decision, saying it was inconsistent with federal laws.

Efforts to legalise the measure failed in the Australian Parliament back in 2012.

Gay rights campaigners in Australia praised New Zealand after it became the 13th country to legalise equal marriage.

Just prior to same-sex marriage taking effect in New Zealand, a survey revealed that over a thousand same-sex Australian couples already planned to travel there.

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