Yes vote a great result but caused a lot of unnecessary pain, says Colin

But when he came back to his office on Thursday, it was filled with balloons and streamers put up by his sweet colleagues.

The survey result and expected legislation wasn’t needed by Colin and partner Paul – they married in Reykjavik in Iceland in 2012 when they couldn’t get married here.

“I feel relieved it’s over, it was really stressful, coming off Facebook and from listening to the news, hearing the constant badgering by the No vote, their justifications for saying No. They’re talking about us! I’m 56 and I’ve gone through a lot of stuff.

“There was an increase in people accessing support services. People having to hear their families talking about them in a negative way. We’re not a disease. We’re not a mental disorder, we’re the same as them. We raise children, we look after our elderly, we looked after our own in the AIDS crisis. We’re pretty good people!”

However the results in our own little patch were music to his ears, with Macquarie’s Yes vote being higher than the national average.

“I’m very pleased with the results in Macquarie,” he said. “People get the image we’re redneck, but we’re very inclusive and supportive of each other and we should pat each other on the back as a community. Well done, Macquarie.

“If there’s a sad thing it’s the unnecessary pain people went through. It wasn’t necessary – the results were consistent with what the majority of Australians had been telling them. They spent $122m on something we already knew. It caused all that pain on both sides of the debate. If only the parliament had just done their job.

He and Paul have been together for 28 years. He said two years after he was married he was diagnosed with cancer. “I was really pleased I was married as I don’t have to worry about establishing next of kin etc.”

Before they were married he and Paul already had wills in place and powers of attorney and enduring guardian, which all non-married partners should do.

Talking about those who were forecasting the breakdown of society if gay marriage got up, he said with a smile “the world hasn’t caved in. The sun still came up”.

“But we mustn’t roll back the anti-discrimination laws as part of it.”