Federal Labor MP for Sydney Tanya Plibersek has announced she has received the backing of her party to move forward with a bill to legalize same-sex marriage and she is now calling for the Australian Government to allow its MPs to vote with their conscience on the issue.

‘Today, the Labor caucus endorsed my proposal to introduce a Bill for marriage equality,’ Plibersek announced earlier today, ‘It’s now up to Tony Abbott to allow his MPs a conscience vote.’

Advocates for same-sex marriage welcomed the move by Plibersek but requested that she consult with them on the language used in the bill to ensure some transgender and intersex people were not excluded from it.

Plibersek’s bill is based on one introduced by Labor MP Stephen Jones which was voted down by the parliament in 2012 and Australian Marriage Equality had concerns about that bill.

‘The Jones bill allowed two people of the same sex to marry but was unclear about whether transgender and intersex people could wed,’ Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome said.

‘This was raised as a concern by the Law Council of Australia, the Human Rights Commission and transgender groups during an inquiry into the Jones bill in 2012.

‘We call on Ms Plibersek to work with us to ensure her bill creates marriage equality of all loving couples.’

Australian Government Communications Minister and former Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull has repeatedly said that he believes his party room will allow a free vote for Liberal-National Coalition MPs if a bill is put before the parliament but he is unsure if there are enough votes in the current parliament for a bill to pass both houses.