With the federal government’s fully-fledged, in-person plebiscite failing to get the numbers in the Senate again last week it’s come down to the government’s last-ditch tactic for a ‘voluntary postal vote’.

Ballot papers will start arriving in the mail from September 12 and you’ll have until November 7 to post them back.

There have been many concerns raised around the postal vote.

The cost for one.

A cool $122 million, which many say could be better spent on “nurses, teachers, pensioners and housing”. 

The fact that the postal vote is far from binding is another.

So even if same-sex marriage gets the green light from a majority who participate in the postal vote – there are still no guarantees it will come into law.

And that’s probably the most disappointing part of this whole scenario.

Regardless of the outcome of the vote, our parliamentarians can still decide they don’t want same-sex marriage in this country.

So why don’t they just make the decision in the first place.

Sure the Turnbull Government came to power with the promise of a plebiscite. But, really … is anyone going to worry about a $122-$170 million saving if it doesn’t go ahead?

Perhaps a few late night snacks will do the trick. A chocolate biscuit and a cup of tea to see our pollies into the wee small hours of the debate.

We elect our local members to make these decisions for us all the time, so why is it so hard?

The other concern of course is that too few people will actually bother to return the ballot.

Prime Minister Turnbull said he expects over 50 per cent of enrolled voters to take part in the postal plebiscite.

The old saying goes “decisions are made by those who turn up”.

It’s fair to say that applies here, so don’t complain about the outcome either way if you can’t be bothered to stand up and be counted.

If you’re not already enrolled to vote, you have just a fortnight to register, or to update your details. The deadline being August 24.

And no you can’t vote online – we like to do things the old fashioned way in this country.