Australia’s favourite youth publishers are teaming up today in the name of marriage equality—by blacking out their sites and social feeds this afternoon.
Junkee, Pedestrian, FBi Radio, Vice and Broadsheet Media will turn dark at their busiest time of the day—between 5pm and 8pm—and prompt their audiences to visit the AEC website and check their enrolment for the upcoming same-sex marriage postal vote.
“This is the first time Australia's youth publishers have all banded together for the one issue,” says Maddison Connaughton from VICE Australia. “We think this marriage equality vote is that important.”
"There are hundreds of thousands of people under 30 who aren't enrolled to vote, and many more who don't have a permanent address, or are travelling, or are overseas.
"But we don't accept that as the end of the story," Connaughton says.
According to the AEC, the electoral roll increased by nearly 37,000 between August 8-20, but there’s still more than half a million people between the ages of 18-39 who aren’t enrolled to vote.
The deadline to enrol to vote is fast approaching—people have until midnight on Thursday August 24 to check they’re on the roll.
FBi Radio’s Caroline Gates says it’s important that young Australians have their say in the upcoming vote.
"A postal plebiscite might not be how we wanted to achieve marriage equality but if it's happening, then it's important that young Australians are represented in the vote and that queer youth hear loud support from media they trust," Gates tells SBS.
“By coming together in this way, hopefully we can help to bring forward the day when all Australians can marry the person they love,” Gates says.
Pedestrian's Head of Editorial, Vanessa Lawrence, tells SBS that " is proud to be involved in this joint initiative, as we continue to utilise our significant influence to help educate and inform our readers on the best ways to rally behind the fight for marriage equality in Australia."
She adds: "It’s more important than ever for organisations with a public profile to come together and spread the message that we won’t back down until everyone in this country has the right to marry the person they love."
You can enrol to vote or make sure your address is up to date on the before midnight tomorrow (August 24).
