High Court to hear plebiscite challenges in September

Two challenges were filed on Thursday in the High Court seeking to stop the postal plebiscite by way of a High Court order.  The first was lodged by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre on behalf of Tasmanian independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, advocate Felicity Marlowe and the Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays (Brisbane).  A second application was made by the Human Rights Law Centre on behalf of Australian Marriage Equality and Green Senator Janet Rice.

The High Court has listed the matter for a directions hearing on Wednesday, 16 August ahead of the hearing before the Full Bench on 5 and 6 September 2012.  The Government has undertaken to the High Court that it will not distribute the ballot papers before September 12.

See my blog post in which I set out the legal basis for which a challenge might be made. When interviewed over the weekend, shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus QC put the odds of success of a challenge at 50/50.