The Australian
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insists the Coalition’s policy on same-sex marriage remains unchanged amid calls for a free vote in parliament which sits for the first time in 2017 this week.
“I’ve got no doubt all these matters will be discussed in the party room,” Mr Turnbull told the Nine Network.
“But I’m the prime minister and the government’s position is that which we took to the election — which is that this issue should be determined by a vote of every Australian in a plebiscite.”
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne says the Labor Party stood in the way of giving people a vote on same sex marriage by opposing the plebiscite.
“This Saturday coming up we could have been having a vote on marriage equality in Australia, and if that vote had been a yes vote for marriage equality, which I anticipate it would have been, we could have had marriage equality in Australia within a matter of weeks,” Mr Pyne said.
He said it was Labor’s fault that there was currently no Coalition bill before the parliament to address marriage equality.
“Whether there is down the track will be a matter for the government and for my colleagues, but right now we don’t have an option for marriage equality because of Labor’s actions in the Senate,” Mr Pyne said.
Asked whether he would support Liberal colleagues including Warren Entsch, Tim Wilson, Trent Zimmerman and Trevor Evans pushing for a free vote in the party room, Mr Pyne said he was in favour of marriage equality but there was currently no bill before the parliament from the Coalition to deal with the issue.
“What happens down the track is a matter for the Prime Minister, for the Cabinet, for the party room,” he said.
Asked whether Tony Abbott should be less outspoken, Mr Pyne said the Liberals did not run a “Stalinist” party.
“We welcome backbenchers’ views,” Mr Pyne said.
“He is allowed to put his view, which is entirely consistent with what he said in the past, and what the government’s position is.”
Earlier, Coalition frontbencher Josh Frydenberg responded to calls from colleagues to abandon a national plebiscite and allow a free vote in parliament by saying that he expects Labor to succumb to pressure and allow the plebiscite, because it is the only way to achieve same sex marriage in this term of government.
Mr Frydenberg said the government had gone to the last election promising a plebiscite and that policy had not changed, despite its failure to pass the Senate.
“That is our policy. It is the Labor Party that has stood in the way of allowing people to marry,” he told Sky News.
“I actually do think that the Labor Party will inevitably blink on this issue because if they’re serious about giving people of the same sex the opportunity to marry, then the best way to do that is through a plebiscite to allow people of all political persuasions and of all differing views on this issue an opportunity to have their say, and then that outcome will make its way through the parliament.”
Labor frontbencher Mark Butler said there was “not a single sign” that the Opposition would change its policy on a same-sex marriage plebiscite.
“Bill Shorten in particular, but the Labor team more broadly went out and talked to the community, particularly talked to groups at the centre of this debate, LGBTI groups, and the overwhelming response, particularly from those groups, is they do not support the community plebiscite,” Mr Butler told Sky News.
“They want a free vote in the parliament. That is Labor’s unshakable position.”
Tony Abbott has warned against abandoning a plebiscite, saying it would break a key election promise.
“Malcolm Turnbull made a clear election commitment that the marriage law would only change by way of people’s plebiscite, not free vote of the parliament,” the former prime minister told Fairfax Media.
“I’m sure he’ll honour that commitment. This isn’t about same-sex marriage, it’s about keeping faith with the people.”
Sydney Liberal MP Craig Kelly also argued that allowing a free vote on the issue would be a “betrayal” of the Coalition’s election commitment to hold a plebiscite.
“To back track and reverse on such a clear election promise during this parliamentary term would be a betrayal of the voting public,” he told AAP.
Mr Entsch, one of the coalition’s leading advocates of same-sex marriage, said he would negotiate privately with colleagues to deal with the issue “once and for all”.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has urged Mr Turnbull to “get on with it” and support a free vote on same-sex marriage.
Mr Wilson said it was not news he wanted a change in the law but he had stuck to his party’s commitment for a plebiscite.
He said a Senate inquiry into same sex-marriage draft laws had yet to report back.
“When that committee reports, when that inquiry is concluded, obviously there is going to have to be a discussion,” Mr Wilson told ABC television on Sunday.
“Nothing to do with me pushing for anything or anybody else.”
Labor marriage equality spokeswoman Terri Butler said that if the reports of calls within the Liberal Party to abandon a plebiscite were true, Mr Turnbull should allow a free vote as soon as possible.
“Given that we have the will, we have the power, we have the support for marriage equality, why wouldn’t the parliament vote to pass marriage equality?” Ms Butler said.
“Why would we keep this going? Why wouldn’t we just get this done?”
She said Mr Frydenberg’s view that Labor would succumb to pressure and allow a plebiscite was “wishful thinking”.
“The Liberals have already brought a bill on a plebiscite. It didn’t pass,” she said.
“What we haven’t had a vote on is a bill to amend the marriage act to allow for marriage equality. Let’s have that vote. It’s pretty simple.”