A graphic designer from Ballarat in Victoria has come up with an alternative to the Turnbull government's plebiscite on same-sex marriage - McDonald's chicken nuggets.
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James Raynes has crunched the numbers on holding a nation-wide vote on gay marriage and reckons for the same price - $200,000,000 - we could send everybody in the country 12 chicken nuggets.
That's quite a Macca's run, but Mr Raynes said doing that makes more sense than the plebiscite, and he's produced a series of illustrations and posted them to Facebook to spread his message.
"I can understand why the idea of a plebiscite has some superficial appeal for many voters, but when you consider both the cost involved and the fact that any result wouldn't be binding on the Liberal Party, what's the point?" Mr Raynes said.
"I've no idea why I chose nuggets as a cost comparison, but I just wanted to vividly illustrate the stupendous amount of money that Malcolm Turnbull is throwing at this plebiscite for no good reason.
"I hope the plebiscite is defeated, and that Malcolm Turnbull is able to find a spine and grant his MPs a conscience vote. I never had to face a public vote before I was able to marry my wife - why should anyone else have to?"
In the series of images, Mr Raynes lays out this argument:
"What if I told you we could have marriage equality and free nuggets?At McDonald's you can buy 20 nuggets for $12.85.That's 64.25 cents per nugget.
"A plebiscite on marriage equality will cost about $200,000,000. Which would buy 311,284,046 nuggets.
"There are 24,194,905 people living in Australia. So, for the price of a plebiscite, we could give every man, woman and child 12.86 nuggets. Since nobody is going to eat 86% of that final nugget, let's round it off.
"If, instead of a plebiscite, our politicians just did their job and passed marriage equality in the parliament, we could give every man, woman and child in Australia 12 nuggets... and still have $13,457,282.45 left over to spend on BBQ sauce.
"If you think spending $200,000,000 on 311,284,046 nuggets and $13,457,282.45 worth of BBQ sauce is a waste of money, imagine spending $200,000,000 on a plebiscite that is not necessary, not binding and not fair.
"I'd rather have the nuggets."
Mr Raynes' illustrations have since gone viral and even been animated by a Facebook user - a reaction he put down to the internet being a "weird and wonderful place."
"But I think it speaks to the level of frustration among voters that we're still talking about marriage equality in 2016. It would take 5 minutes for Parliament to change the Marriage Act and get on with addressing far more complex challenges the country faces."
