Turnbull was dead against a postal vote - 20yrs ago in republic vote (video)

Turnbull in 1997

Turnbull now looks likely to adopt Dopey Dutton's idea and have a postal plebiscite vote for marriage equality. A way to sidestep parliament and not require legislation to do it, making it open to a constitutional challenge in the High Court. 

However an article he wrote 20 years ago in The Australian, when he was head of the vote yes for a republic (another one of his failures) he was absolutely against a postal vote. In fact he was positively scathing of the whole idea. If you want some good reasons why not to have a postal vote, simply read what he wrote back then.

In 1997, as leader of the Australian Republican Movement, Mr Turnbull wrote an excoriating opinion piece against a postal vote on the republic, saying it would contravene basic democratic values. 

He warned it would disenfranchise voters who were not at the address listed on the electoral roll, particularly young people and Aboriginal Australians in remote communities, as well as those who struggled with English. 

Among Mr Turnbull's other concerns were voter fraud, peer pressure from family members and a high informal vote. 

"The voluntary postal voting method ... flies in the face of Australian democratic values," he wrote in a 1997 article for The Australian, unearthed by Crikey on Wednesday. 

"It is likely to ensure that not only will a minority of Australians vote, but also that large sections of the community will be disfranchised." Sydney Morning Herald 

If the postal vote goes ahead it won't have a shred of legitimacy. No one will take the results as in any way representative of Australians views on marriage equality. It will be an exercise in futility and a complete waste of taxpayers money.