The Australian public finally heard the results of the same-sex marriage survey on Wednesday, with 61.6% of eligible participants voting "yes".
People cried tears of happiness on the streets, parties broke out in city CBDs, and politicians that had spent the last few months campaigning for a "yes" result sighed with relief.
However, many Australian politicians and conservative leaders were left on the wrong side of history, having spent their time campaigning for a "no" vote that ultimately fell below 40% of the postal forms received. Here's how they reacted to the "yes" result:
Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi discussed the result in his newsletter, released two hours after the result was first announced. "A great many more Australians have concerns about the consequences for our cherished freedoms," he wrote.
Cory Bernardi says "a great many more Australians" than 38.4% who voted no "have concerns about the consequences fo… https://t.co/XD760mhRG7
Bernardi later published a video to the Australian Conservatives YouTube channel:
View this video on YouTube
"One thing is important to note," he said. "There was only one political party that campaigned for the 'no' vote and that was the Australian Conservatives.
"This is just the start of the battle and the stronger the conservative voice can be the better and more resilient, safer, and more empowered, our country will always be.
"So whilst we've lost this battle, it's only just begun."
Liberal senator Andrew Hastie, who urged a "no" vote and wrote an opinion piece in the Herald Sun on the importance of traditional marriage, said he would be abstaining from future voting that would legalise same-sex marriage. Hastie's seat of Canning voted "yes."
Liberal Andrew Hastie, a prominent advocate of a "no" vote, tells me he will be abstaining (his WA seat of Canning voted "yes")
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson released a statement after the results were announced saying she was waiting on the government's final private members' bill. "One Nation will take a balanced approach when considering the final legislation," she wrote. Hanson also promised to publicly release the federal bill on her "social media sites" to garner feedback from her supporters.
MEDIA RELEASE | Statement on same-sex marriage postal vote outcome. LINK: https://t.co/OnPnHM33Hn #auspol
Backbencher and "no" campaigner Kevin Andrews appeared on Sky News after the result was read out and delivered a series of seriously bizarre statements about gay marriage, gay bakers, Jewish people and wedding cakes ...
. @kevinandrewsmp : A Jewish baker should be able to deny an Islamic customer a wedding cake and vice versa. MORE:… https://t.co/gkJ1v0G7p8
"I don't have a problem if there's a gay baker who says they don't want to bake a cake for a heterosexual wedding, or for a Christian or an Islamic celebration or whatever it might be," said Andrews.
"So a Jewish baker should be able to deny an Islamic...?" asked Sky News host David Speers.
"Why not?" Andrews responded. "It has to be in relation to marriage. We're not talking about someone comes in and says 'David Speers I want to buy a cake' — well of course there shouldn't be objection to that, but this goes to fundamental religious beliefs and beliefs of conscience, and it's only in relation to that."
Asked if he thought an Islamic baker should be able to refuse to bake a cake for a Muslim person marrying someone of another faith, Andrews said he "did not have a problem with that at all".
It was weird.
So just to clarify the Kevin Andrews thing - he is arguing a Muslim baker should be able to refuse to bake a cake f… https://t.co/b8QQfPE5g2
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who toured the world giving speeches on the importance of traditional marriage and voting "no", congratulated the "yes" campaign on its achievement. "The people have spoken and, of course, the parliament should respect the result," he wrote on Facebook.
Full Abbott statement:
Western Australian MP Ian Goodenough said he would honour the majority of his electorate — which voted "yes" — even though it was against his personal views.
The Coalition has delivered on its election commitment and given Australians a say on SSM. Whilst I have made my pe… https://t.co/lfTI2VUpM0
And Lyle Shelton, considered by many to be the face of the "no" campaign, said this was only the beginning. "It's a disappointment," he said. "We haven't quite got to where we wanted to go."
“Democracy hasn’t gone our way today, but I thank God that we live in a free and open and democratic society,”… https://t.co/tzngNOcw8p
Shelton also appeared on Sky News and claimed that the "yes" campaign had a leg-up on the "no" team due to the constant campaigning of the "yes" side. He said they had been campaigning for "at least 10 years".
Lyle Shelton is on Sky News now: "We accept the democratic decision of the people of Australia... But I think we ha… https://t.co/U92gCb3yEt